I LIBRxVRY OF COJy'GHESS. i 



I (Jtljap. ..?d£in/ 



|UXITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



THE 



PRINCIPLES OF LANGUAGE; 



EXEMPLIFIED IN 



A PRACTICAL ENGLISH GRAMMAR. 



COPIOUS EXERCISES. 



DESIGNED 
AS .AN INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY OF LANGUAGES GENERALLY, 

FOR 

THE USE OF SCHOOLS, AND SELE-INSTHUCTION. 



BY GEORGE "^KANE. 



LONDON: 
WHITTAKER AND CO., AVE-MARIA LANE. 

1843. 






.<>.\!H>.N : 
'Ai-MKH. aiiU Clayio.n, i'; 



PREFACE. 



A BRIEF recital of the circumstances under which this 
work was compiled will explain the object proposed to 
be accomplished by it, and render needless any apology 
for thus adding another to the many English Gram- 
mars already existing. Its Author was for some years 
engaged as Professor of English in a scholastic esta- 
blishment of high character upon the Continent, in 
which were pupils of various nations, including some 
from the United Kingdom. The latter being, for the 
most part, destined for the public service, more especially 
for the army, had been sent to a foreign school that they 
might acquire the principal modern languages. Among 
them were young gentlemen verging on manhood, some 
of them from the very highest public schools in England, 
and far advanced in the Classics, yet commonly so little 
familiar with the Principles of Grammar, as to be inca- 
pable of illustrating some of the simplest of them in 
their mother tongue, and therefore unable to follow the 
classes of French, German, &c., as taught by the various 
professors j for the latter always proceeded upon the 
assumption, that the pupil was acquainted with the 
Grammar of his own language. Under these circum- 
stances the Author was occasionally called upon by the 
Principal of the Institution, to impart to a pupil, in his 
own language, such a knowledge of the cardinal maxims 
of Grammar as would qualify him to follow their de- 
velopment in any other language. In the accomphsh- 
ment of this object, the first difficulty to be overcome 
was a repugnance on the part of the pupil to enter upon 

a2 



IV PREFACE. 

the proposed study^ a sentiment generally shared by the 
parents, with whom it was a common remark, that they 
had not sent their sons abroad to learn English. The 
delusion so general in this country, — a delusion coun- 
tenanced unfortunately by many engaged in education, 
that in learning the Latin Grammar we acquire that of 
our own language, — though found to be such, was still 
tenaciously adhered to, and the new study was com- 
menced with little good will 0:1 the part of the pupil. 
The only English Grammar to be had was that of Mur- 
ray, a work no way adapted to aid the Author in his 
purpose 3 and he therefore set about compiling such an 
explanation of the mechanism of the simple sentence, 
and the grammatical accidents of its clauses, as would 
enable a pupil to recognize and point out the correspond- 
ing members of the sentence in another language. A 
change was afterwards made in the Institution, by 
which boys were admitted at an earlier age, and this, 
with an accession to the number of English scholars, 
led to the establishment of a regular course of English 
Grammar for their special instruction ; and thus the 
Author became engaged, for the first time, in explaining 
his own language to his own countrymen. As the object 
of the course was, however, to teach the Science of 
Grammar, rather than English Grammar, he conceived 
that the method, which had answered so well with older 
pupils, might, if further developed, be rendered a still 
more efficient auxiliary to the progress of the younger 3 
nor was he disappointed by the result. The mode of 
teaching in foreign schools was perhaps no mean help 
to success ; for, after having familiarly explained the 
subject of the lesson, he was enabled to show in chalk, 
upon the black board, any number of illustrations that 
he might deem necessary 3 and, by calling forward one 
or more of the pupils, convince himself, by their per- 
formance in face of the class, that the matter was per- 



PREFACE. V 

fectly understood. As nothing was required that was 
beyond the pupil's capacity, he readily set about forming 
sentences in imitation of those that he had seen upon 
the board ; the lessons were even looked forward to 
with pleasure, and the exercises commonly rendered 
in excess. The progress of the pupil was doubtless 
accelerated, by the confirmation which the grammatical 
notions thus obtained daily received in the other classes, 
where the knowledge acquired in his English lessons 
enabled him to comprehend clearly that which the pro- 
fessor was there explaining to him ; for those repe- 
titions, by proving to him the utility of his English 
Grammar, strengthened his confidence in the principles 
that it taught. Without a specific plan, and misled by 
some specious hope of finding a shorter route to a 
given point, the author occasionally lost his way 3 but 
as the only object of his search was truth, as he had no 
cherished fancies to which he would make even prin- 
ciples succumb, when he thus discovered himself at 
fault, he quietly led the unconscious pupil back to the 
point whence he had strayed, and renewed his pursuit 
by another road. From the desire to render his course 
as subservient as possible to other studies, he has, on 
some few minor points, waived his own opinion in 
deference to that of others -, but the work which he noW 
submits to his fellow -labourers in the field of instruc- 
tion shows, in its arrangement, the course which, after 
long and anxious experience, he has found the most 
successful, and which he therefore conceives to be the 
best. It may be that some work upon a similar plan 
already exists in our language, if so, he can only regret 
that his ignorance of the fact has imposed upon him a 
weary task which might have been spared. 

Having thus given the history of the work, a few 
observations may be allowed upon its matter. If uni- 
versality be held a proof of the wisdom of a practice, it 

A 3 



VI PREFACE. 

will scarcely be contested, that, in a well-directed system 
of education, the earliest studies of youth should be 
devoted to the vernacular idiom. The neglect of our 
own language is the radical vice of our educational sys- 
tem, which is, in this respect, at variance with that of 
every other enlightened people, ancient and modern; 
for with the latter now, as with the former of old, the 
first subject of intellectual study is the grammar of the 
mother tongue. Grammar has been aptly termed the 
'' Torch of Language," of which it serves to show the 
principles 3 and language being but the representative of 
thought, it is clear that its principles can be best taught 
in that idiom in which the pupil thinks. They are few 
in number, and of such beautiful simplicity as to be 
within the comprehension of a mere child, when exhi- 
bited in his own language ; in which indeed they may be 
taught with a facility and completeness inconceivable to 
those who have only witnessed the results of the ordinary 
methods of instruction. As language is but the repre- 
sentative of thought, and as men, from identity of 
organization, necessarily follow the same mental pro- 
cesses in the formation of the ideas which they express 
in their various tongues, it results that the same prin- 
ciples which govern the language that we ourselves 
speak, must be found predominating every other language 
that can be spoken. Thus the young grammarian com- 
mences the study of another language with great advan- 
tages over him who is ignorant of the science. He 
knows beforehand the principles which must pervade it, 
and is able to appreciate any peculiarities, in which it 
either diverges from principles, or differs from his own. 
To him the various classes of words are but old friends, 
whose change of dress awakens new interest. Accus- 
tomed to analysis, he recognizes at once the various 
members of the sentence, occupying perhaps different 
positions, and assuming other forms, but fulfilling the 



PREFACE. VU 

identical functions and obeying the same laws as in his 
own language. Points, which from the bold and unfet- 
tered genius of our English scarcely admit of illustra- 
tion in it, he now sees defined with a precision that 
defies mistake. The sympathy of the Participle and the 
Adjective with the substantive becomes visible in the 
Concord : the varying termination of the substantive, 
indicating its relation more or less direct to the other 
members of the sentence, shows the true value of Case : 
in a word, those very changes, which present to the un- 
instructed an inextricable labyrinth of difficulties, form 
the thread that guides the young grammarian through 
the mazes of the most complicated sentence, offering, as 
they do, at every turn, illustrations of principles with 
which he is already familiar. Powerful, however, as is 
the aid which the principles of grammar thus lend to 
the acquisition of languages, and despite the "Systems" 
of teaching the latter, of which we daily hear, it may 
be boldly asserted, that there is no branch of education 
in which so little profit is drawn from principles. 

Although the Author believes that grammar may be 
best taught to a child in his own language, he does not 
think that it can be completely taught in any single one ; 
for all have defects, all have peculiarities, which the 
grammarians of each are too apt to treat as principles. 
Now he holds it to be practicable, that every lad who can 
remain at school till he is fourteen years old, should 
quit it perfectly acquainted with at least two languages 
besides his own, and this without having neglected his 
other studies. But to ensure this desirable result, it is 
indispensable that his grammatical studies commence 
with his own language, although at a subsequent period 
they may be advantageously carried on concurrently 
with others. The wish to aid his progress is the motive 
that has called forth the present work, in which the 
Author has sought assistance from the logician rather 



VIU PREFACE. 

than from grammarians : in so doing, however^ he 
trusts that he has not rendered his meaning obscure, or 
his matter repulsive. From having been more intimately- 
connected with German than with other professors, — for 
the first taught the ancient languages as well as their 
own, — he feels that he has been drawn, almost uncon- 
sciously, to German rather than to French views upon 
the subject of grammar. Indeed the opinions of Becker, 
and of numerous other able grammarians of the same 
country, are so just, that they secure ready assent when 
once understood ', but these writers are frequently so 
abstruse and metaphysical as to be distasteful to youth. 
Against this fault the Author has endeavoured to guard 
himself : should he have been unsuccessful, he begs the 
assistance of the teacher in explaining to the pupil what 
is obscurely or imperfectly expressed in the work. He 
conceives that a teacher may render the present 
'' System," if he may be permitted to use that prosti- 
tuted term, highly subservient to the advance of his 
pupils in other languages, whether ancient or modern. 
To test its efficiency for the latter, the Author (is now 
engaged with a friend, a French gentleman of high 
literary attainments and great experience in tuition, in 
preparing for the press a work, based upon the prin- 
ciples developed in the present volume, by the aid of 
which, as he believes, not only will an acquaintance 
with that elegant language be facilitated, but a perfectly 
idiomatical knowledge of it ensured. 

In conclusion, the Author earnestly requests that any 
gentleman connected with education, into whose hands 
his work may fall, that is sceptical as to its fitness for 
its designed object, will fairly try its merits with one or 
two of his pupils, and let his opinion abide the result of 
the experiment. 

Lojidon, Oct. nth, 1843. 



TO TEACHERS. 



Without presuming to dictate to those who may pay him 
the flattering comphment of introducing the present work 
into their schools, the method in which it is to be used, the 
Author conceives that he may be excused, if he ventures 
to suggest some of the means, by which the exercises, 
required from the pupils, may be rendered subservient to 
their advance in other studies. He strongly recommends 
that at least three lessons should be had in a week, at 
which rate the course will be completed in about a year 
and a half : the time thus consumed will be amply saved in 
the facilities given to the accomplishment of other duties. 
The number of sentences to be furnished under each lesson 
can be easily adapted to the age and intelligence of the 
pupil; and while for some the lessons themselves may 
prove unnecessarily numerous, and therefore admit of con- 
densation, by reducing two into one, with others of slower 
apprehension, it may be useful to dwell upon and work up 
some of the points by repeated exercises. It is highly 
desirable to keep alive in the pupil's mind the object of the 
particular lesson upon which he is engaged : to render him 
attentive to the motive that suggests the employment of 
each word, and thus accustom him by an easy process to 
habits of reasoning. It is also recommended that the 
matter of the sentences be frequently limited to some 
branch of School learning, suggested by the Teacher, and 
having reference to the current studies of the Class ; as 
History, Sacred and Profane, Ancient and Modern ; Geo- 
graphy ; Natural History generally ; the Animal and Vege- 
table Kingdoms ; &c. &c. Opportunities will thus befound 
of furnishing orally, where the continental system of chalk 
and the black board is not in use, repeated illustrations of 
the point that the pupil is expected to exemplify in the 
coming exercise ; till even the dullest will perceive what it 
is that is required of him. The profit to the pupil from 



X TO TEACHERS. 

these exercises is not confined to the grammatical know- 
ledge thus obtained : the seeking for matter, and the act of 
writing out the propositions in language of his own, will 
greatly aid in fixing the facts themselves in his memory ; 
while the habit of expressing himself promptly and metho- 
dically upon any subject in his own language, will accelerate 
his progress in others, and more especially the living ones, 
from the readiness with which he sets about forming 
phrases with the words as he acquires them : the pupil, 
who is willing to write a language, will soon begin to 
speak it. Instead of listlessly translating a certain number 
of given sentences, to whose construction he pays little 
attention, because he feels little interest in them, the pixpil 
who is to express his own thoughts in a new language must, 
and indeed will willingly, reflect upon the appropriate man- 
ner of doing so. He not only knows what he is about to 
do, but is also aware of what is necessary to its being well 
done. During the progress through the work, the Teacher 
can at all times attach such conditions to each lesson, as he 
may think necessary to keep in activity the knowledge 
which the pupil has already gained. The Author has com- 
monly abstained from restrictions of this kind, that his book 
might be rendered auxiliary to every branch of learning. 
In the exercises upon complex sentences, and more especially 
in those treating of participial substantives, he advises that 
the pupil should be frequently practised in rendering ideas 
by various equivalent forms. This mode of expression is so 
peculiar to our language, and of such frequent occurrence 
in it, that it becomes a matter of considerable importance 
to render it promptly by a phrase analogous to that by 
which it must be expressed in another language. As soon 
as the pupil has worked through the first chapter, or even 
earlier, he may set about learning another language, the 
study of which will indeed serve to confirm his gram- 
matical knowledge, and encourage him in the pursuit of it, 
from the consciousness of power that an acquaintance with 
principles always gives. The exercises, when corrected, 
should be carefully copied and preserved ; strict attention 
being paid to the orthography, especially with beginners. 
The irksome labour of revising the exercises thus copied, 
may be lightened by requiring the pupils to examine and 
mutually guarantee the accuracy of the transcription. 



CONTENTS. 



INTRODUCTION. 

Section I. — Thought and Language 
II. — Letters and Syllables 
III.— Ideas 



Page 
1 
3 
o 



CHAPTER I. . 

Section I. — The Simple Sentence 
n.— Of Number 
in.— Of Gender 
IV.— Of Person 
v.— Of Case 
VL— Of the Predicate 
VII. — Number and Person of the Verb 
VEIL— Of Tense ... 
IX.— Of Mood 
X. — Concord of the Adjective 
XI.— Of Negation 
XII.— The Genitive Case 
XIIL— Order of Words 



10 
11 
13 

15 
16 
17 
18 
20 
24 
27 
28 
30 
31 



CHAPTER II. 

THE SIMPLE SENTENCE EXTENDED. 

Section I. — Closer Definition of Substantives. Addition 
II, — Subject represented by the Definitive 
III. — Progressing (incomplete) Action 
IV. — Complement of Verbs 
V. — Pronominal Complement of Verbs 
VL — Reflected Action 
VII. — Double Complement of Verbs 
Vm. — Complement of Adjectives 
IX. — The Attribute expressed by a Substantive 
X. — The Passive Voice of Verbs 
XL — Circumstances of the Action. Adverbs 
XII. — Time of the Action 
XIIL— Place of the Action 
XIV. — Manner of the Action 
XV. — :Origin of the Action 
XVI. — Complement of Adverbs 
XVII. — Several Circumstances in the Predicate 
XVni. — Recapitulatory Observations upon Chapter II 

CHAPTER III. 

Section I. — The Compomid Sentence. Conjunctions 
n. — Participial Connectives 
III. — Order of the Compound Sentence 
rV. — Degrees of the Adjective 



34 
43 
44 
47 
52 
53 
56 
58 
60 
60 
65 
6a 
70 
73 
80 
81 
82 
83 



Xll CONTENTS, 

CHAPTER IV. 

THE COMPLEX SENTENCE. 

Page 

Setcion I. — Of Complex Sentences Generally 101 

II. — Of Co-ordinately combined Complex Sentences. 103 

III. — Of Double Conjunctions ... ... Ill 

IV. — Of Subordinately- combined Complex Sentences. 115 

v.— Of the Relative Tenses ... 116 

VI.— Of the Subjunctive Mood ... ... 118 

VII. — Of Accessory Attributive Sentences. Relative 

Pronouns ... ... ... 120 

VIII. — Nominative Sentences ... ... ... 135 

IX. — Of Interrogatives ... ... ... 139 

X. — Accusative Sentences. Completive of Verbs .. . 141 
XI. — Accusative Sentences. Completive of Adjectives 145 
XII. — Adverbial (Circumstantial) Sentences. Com- 
parison of Adverbs ... ... ... 148 

XIII. — Adverbial Sentences Circumstantial of Place ... 149 

XIV. — Adverbial Sentences Circumstantial of Time ... 152 

XV. — Adverbial Sentences Circumstantial of Manner. 155 

XVI. — Adverbial Sentences Cucumstantial of Origin... 157 

XVII.— The Infinitive Mood. Verbal Substantives, 

Participles &c. ... 160 

XVIII.— The Case Absolute ... ... ... 1 75 

XIX. — Modal Adverbs and Sentences, and Interjections 176 
XX. — Recapitulatory Observations upon Complex Sen- 
tences ... ... 178 

XXI. — Extended Complex Sentences ... ... 180 

CHAPTER V. 

ETYMOLOGY. 

Section I. — Of the Various Kinds of Words 187 

II. — Of the Substantive or jSToun ... ... 188 

III.— Of Pronoims ... ... 194 

IV.— Of Adjectives ... ... ... 200 

v.— Of the Articles ... ... 205 

VI.— Of Verbs ... ... ... ... 208 

VII.— Of Participles ... ... 241 

VIII.— Of Verbal Substantives ... ... 245 

IX.— Of Prepositions ... ... 247 

X.— Of Adverbs ... ... ... 249 

XL— Of Con^" unctions ... 251 

XII.— Of Interjections ... ... ... 252 

XIII.— Derivation ... ... 253 



CHAPTER VI 

Syntax ... ... ... ... ... 25/ 



THE 



PRINCIPLES OF LANGUAGE. 



INTRODUCTION. 

SECTION I. 

THOUGHT AKD LANGUAGE. 

Man has been endowed with the faculty of T h ought; 
that is, he has the power of forming ideas concerning 
the various objects that surround him, or that present 
themselves to his mind ; and, as the operations of the 
mind can neither be seen nor heard, he has also re- 
ceived from his beneficent Creator the gift of Speech, 
by which he is enabled to communicate to his fellow- 
man that which passes in his mind. 

The faculty of speech has developed itself in Lan- 
guage; and, to extend the communication of thought, 
originally limited to the range within which the voice 
could be heard, men have invented signs, serving to 
convey to the mind, through the medium of the eye, 
the same ideas that would be conveyed by the ear, 
could the sounds which these signs represent be 
heard ; and we have thus a Spoken Language and 
a Written Language. 

Grammar, as a science, treats of the principles 
of language generally ; when practically applied, as 
an art, to any particular language, its object is to 
teach how to speak and write that language correctly. 

The simplest expressions employed in communi- 
cating thought are Words, which are articulate 



Ic IISTRODTTCTION. 

sounds, either simple or complex, represented in 
writing by signs of one or more syllables. 

As words represent thoughts, we cannot fully com- 
prehend the various meanings which they express 
unless we well understand that which passes in the 
mind. 

The operations of the mind are Conception, Judg- 
ment, and Reasoning. 

Conception is a spontaneous action of the mind, 
by which is presented to it the idea of some object^ 
whether material, as a man, a ship, or an abstraction 
in a manner realized and regarded as an object, as 
speed, virtue, science. 

Judgment is the assertion that an object which we 
have conceived is distinguished by certain attributes, 
as, after having conceived the idea of snoio and the 
idea of whiteness, I assert that snow is ivhite. 

Eeasoning is the use of previous judgments as the 
grounds of a new one; as, after having judged that 
intoxication is injurious, and that opium intoxicates, 
I thence conclude that opium is injurious. 

Reasoning is but an extended exercise of judgment. 
The two more important operations of the mind, there- 
fore, for the grammarian, are conception and judg- 
ment, or the object of thought and the impression 
which it leaves, for thence springs the assertion. 

Starting from this luminous principle, the true 
foundation of the metaphysics of language, I shall 
lead the attentive and diligent pupil from sentences 
that embody the simplest operations of the under- 
standing; and, proceeding gradually to more extended 
forms, reach at last the most intricate combinations of 
words that man has adopted for the purpose of com- 
municating that which passes in the mind. Although 
the track proposed differs from that commonly pur- 
sued, it is one that will assuredly conduct us to the 
end proposed — a clear perception of the Principles 
of Language, and a perfect knowledge of English 
Grammar . 



INTRODUCTION. 6 

SECTION II. 
laBTTERS AND SVZsIi ABLBS. 

"Words, in tvritten language, are composed of Let- 
ters. The letters employed in a language form what 
is called its Alphabet : the English Alphabet con- 
tains twenty-six letters : — A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, 
J, K, L, M, N, O, P, Q, E, S, T, U, V, W, X, Y, Z. 

Of these a, e, i, o, u, j, are called Vowels; they 
can be distinctly articulated by themselves. 

The other letters are called Consonants, because 
they can only be sounded in connection with a pre- 
ceding or succeeding vowel. 

But y at the beginning of a syllable is regarded as 
a consonant, and w following a vowel is considered to 
be a vowel. 

Each of our vowels represents several distinct sounds, 
while the same sound may be represented by different 
letters ; and for other sounds, that are in themselves per- 
fectly simple, we have no single vowel, but represent them 
by a combination of vowels. 

As an illustration of different sounds represented by the 
same signs take the letters *^ ough " in cough, though, 
plough, through, tough : the same sound is represented by 
different letters in the words her, sir, cur; or in the words 
peace, niece, police, fleece, conceit, complete, fatigue. These 
instances will show the capricious nature of our ortho- 
graphy : an attempt to classify the sounds of our language, 
and the letters used to represent them, might perhaps 
assist a foreigner about to acquire it : but to the English 
student the Art of Spelling will be best taught by 
WRITTEN Exercises. 

When two vowels are so combined in a sole articu- 
lation, that, though forming but one syllable, they 
may each be heard, they constitute what is called a 
Diphthong, as, "oi"in coin, or "ai" in paid. A 
Triphthong is the combination of three vowels in 
one sound, as in the word view. 

B 2 



4 INTRODUCTION. 

The names given to our consonants do not, by any 
means, represent the exact value of those letters ; for, as 
they cannot be articulated by themselves, they have no 
perfect sound. Those sounds of spoken words that dis- 
tinctly strike the ear, are, in the written symbols of such 
words, represented by the vowels ; while the consonants 
merely indicate certain modifications which the vowel 
sounds receive in utterance. These modulations are 
effected by the organs of articulation, the lips, tongue, 
teeth, nose, palate, or throat ; after which the consonants 
are divided into labials, linguals, dentals, &c., according to 
the organ by which the modification that they represent is 
effected. 

Let the word "bad" serve to illustrate the difference 
between the tvYO classes of letters, vowels, and consonants. 
If the letters were fully pronounced as they are named, 
they would form be-a-de ; instead of which a sound, repre- 
sented by the vowel "a," is affected in its commencement 
by that action of the lips which produces the modification 
indicated by our consonant "h;" and, at its conclusion, 
a different modification is effected by the action of the 
tongue against the upper teeth, which causes the sound 
that we call "d." 

This subject of letters and their various values has, in some 
of our grammars, been treated at great length : consonants 
have been divided into mutes, liquids, semi-vowels, &c,, with 
other distinctions that it would be profitless to particu- 
larize here. Should the pupil be inclined to look more 
curiously into the matter, he will, if he defer the examin- 
ation till he has reached the concluding lesson of the 
present work, find himself much better qualified to appre- 
ciate the utility of such a study, the consideration of which, 
at present, would retard his progress without promising 
any advantage. 

Each, portion of a word that is uttered at a single 
emission of the voice is called a Syllable. 

A word of one syllable is called a Monosyllable. 

Ex.: Bad, rich, cat, see, feel, man, house. 

A word of two syllables is called a Dissyllable. 
Ex. : Bob-ber, beck-on, cor-ner, can-die, bul-lock, shep-herd. 



IKTRODUCTION. 6 

A word of three syllables is called a Trisyllable. 

Ex. : Ex-cel-lent, re-cre-ate, po-si-tive, wick-ed-ness, e-ne-my. 

A word of more than three syllables is called a 
Polysyllable. 

Ex,: Au-tho-ri-ty, ex-e-cra-ble, po-pu-la-ri-ty, un-par- don- 
a-ble, de-ter-mi-na-ti-on, in-com-pre-hen-si-bi-li-ty. 

The foregoing terms, derived from the Greek, are equi- 
valent respectively to single syllable, double syllable, treble 
syllable, many syllable. 



SECTION III. 

IDEAS. 

We can form ideas of the objects that exist in the 
world, as a stone, vifloiDer, water; and we can also 
forpi ideas of things which, though not material 
objects capable of being seen or touched, are yet in a 
manner realized in the mind and regarded as objects; 
as anger, goodness, love, joy, space. When the idea 
of a thing presents itself to the mind, we commonly 
form some judgment respecting it; and this judgment 
assumes one of three forms. 

I. We consider the object with reference to others 
to which it bears some affinity, and determine what it 
is. Thus the horse is classed as an animal, tempe- 
rance is judged to be a virtue, drunkenness is de- 
clared a vice, grammar is ranked as a science, &c. 

II. We regard the object as distinguished by some 
peculiar quality, and express our judgment accord- 
ingly. Thus the horse is swi/'t, temperance is 
healthful, drunkenness is disgraceful, grammar is 
difficult, &c. 

III. We consider the actions of which the object 
is capable, or the effects that it produces, and our 
judgment assumes a new form. The horse neighs, 
temperance strengthens, drunkenness debases, gram- 
mar instructs, &c. 



O INTRODUCTION'. 

We tlius have : 

1. Ideas of the species of things; or of What 

THEY ARE. 

2. Ideas of the qualities of things ; or of How 

THEY ARE. 

3. Ideas of the actions of things ; or of What 

THEY DO. 

The words which serve to express these ideas may 
be divided into three classes, corresponding with the 
three sorts of ideas just mentioned ; and every word 
serving to recal the notion of a thing itself, of how it 
is, or of what it does, belongs to the corresponding 
class of words. 

1. Those words which name the object of thought 
are called Substantives. 

Ex. : Man, child, stone, tree, fish, house, elephant, gold, wine, 
solitude, wisdom, ignorance, duty, pleasure. 

2. Those words which express how a thing is, are 
called Adjectives. 

Ex. : Old, young, fat, handsome, green, vicious, limpid, 
lively, large, precious, dull, gracious, terrible. 

3. Those words that express what a thing does, 
are called Verbs. 

Ex. : Speak, instruct, convey, foretel, bum, run, gallop, swim, 
play, shake, shine, fight, throw. 

The three kinds of words just enumerated. Substan- 
tives, Adjectives, and Verbs, form as it were the staple 
of every language : their functions in all are precisely- 
similar to those which they perform in our own. 

EXERCISE. 

Lesson 1. — Express in writing a thought upon each of 
the following substantives, taking care to place a period or 
full stop (.) after each sentence. 

Gold. sky. sun. cat. horse, pigeon, squirrel, lion. pig. hawk, 
fish, snake, bull. ass. cock. goat, sheep, raven, tiger, 
partridge, pheasant, giraffe, mouse. 

Ex. : Gold is a metal. The sky is clear. The sun shines. 



INTRODUCTION. 7 

Note. — When we assert what an object is, as in the 
sentence ''gold is a metal," the word "metal" being but 
another name for the object '*gold," is of course a sub- 
stantive. 

Lesson 2. — Write as many substantives, of one syllable 
only, as you can possibly think of that name objects which 
might be seen in the course of a walk, and place a comma 
(,) after each. 

Ex. : Tree, boy, star, cow, grass, stone, leaf. 

Lesson 3. — Write as many substantives, dissyllables, as 
you can recollect naming similar objects, and divide the 
two syllables by a short stroke, called a hyphen (-), taking 
care to place a comma after each word. 

Ex.: Cat-tie, gar-den, fur-row, wag-gon, or-chard, mas-ter, 
tum-brel, lob-ster, ox-en. 

Note. — It may assist the young scholar in dividing his 
words properly, to remark, that any consonant, except .r, stand 
ing between two vowels, is commonly joined to the last sylla- 
ble, as : as, ba-sin, la-bour, ra-zor. Where two or more conso- 
nants come together, they are sometimes divided, as in the 
examples given for this lesson ; but at other times they are 
attached to the second syllable; as, sta-ble, bro-ther, ca-price, 
ci-pher. If two vowels come together, and do not form a 
diphthong, that is, if they are not so blended together in 
the utterance as to form one syllable, they must be sepa- 
rated when the word is divided in syllables; as, bri-ar, 
Ji-on, fu-el, ru-in, po-et. When the pupil is uncertain as 
to the manner of dividing a word, let him consult his ear, 
and reduce it into the same syllables in writing that he 
divides it into in pronunciation ; recollecting, that if the 
word is a derivative, that is, if it be formed from some 
simple word called a root, this root will generally remain 
entire when the derived word is divided into syllables ; as, 
debt'Or, suck-\x\g, west-em, beat-Qn. This rule is, however, 
hable to many exceptions ; take for instance the word 
gram-ma-ri-an, of whose pronunciation we should have a 
very incorrect notion were it divided according to the root 
** grammar.'* 

Lesson 4. — Write as many substantives, trisyllables or 
polysyllables y as you can call to mind ; taking care to divide 
them into syllables as before. 



O INTRODUCTION. 

Ex.: But-ter-cup, in-flu-ence, dan-de-li-on, al-ter-a-ti-on, 
com-pre-hen-si-on. 

The letters ^*ion" at the end of a suhstantive, are mostly 
pronounced as a single syllable ; but in spelling they are 
commonly divided, so as to form two ; at-ten-ti-on, ac- 
ii-on. 

Lesson 5. — Write as many substantives as you can 

remember, naming objects that might be found in a 

market, and divide those of more than one syllable, by 
h3rphens, into their proper syllables. 

Ex. : Cow, dro-ver, gen-tle-man, bar-gain, con-fu-si-on. 

Lesson 6. — Write all the words that you can recollect 
that serve to name virtues, vices, passions, habits, studies, &c. 
These will all be substantives ; but as the ideas which they 
express are not real or material objects, Hke things that we 
can see or touch, they are called Abstract Substantives. 

Ex.: Patience, charity, pride, murder, anger, politeness, 
arithmetic. 

Lesson 7. — Take twenty of the substantives that you 
have written in the foregoing lessons, and form twenty 
sentences, employing in each an Adjective, that expresses 
how the substantive is to which it refers. 

Ex. : The tree is green. The boy is merry. 

Lesson 8. — Write as many adjectives of one syllable as 
you can think of; and to help you in doing this consider 
how the following objects might be as to colour, shape, 
taste, &c. — a horse, a man, fruit. 

Ex. : Tall, good, swift, lame, ripe, sour, &c. 

Lesson 9. — Write as many adjectives as you can, of 
two, three, or more syllables ; dividing them syllabically by 
hyphens, as you have already done with the substantives. 

Ex.: Mel -low, talk-a-tive, a-gree-a-ble, com-fort-a-ble. 

Lesson 10. — Kefer to the substantives which you have 
written for Lesson 6, and write out the adjectives corre- 
sponding to those substantives, that you would employ in 
speaking of an object as distinguished by the qualities 
which those substantives express; and then, add to these 
adjectives as many more as you can recollect, describing 



INTRODUCTION. ^ 

how a good boy should be, and others that express how he 
should not be. 

Ex.: Patient, charitable, proud, murderous, angry, polite, 
arithmetical, diligent, studious, idle, saucy, &c. 

Lesson 11. — Write the names of twenty objects, and 
express, by an appropriate verh, something that each of 
such objects does. 

Ex. : The snow melts. A dog barks. John reads. 

Lesson 12. — Write all the verbs that you can think of 
expressing actions of which a person is capable, and take 
care to divide into syllables, by hyphens, such as consist of 
more than one syllable. 

Ex. : See, dance, think, write, ex-pect, con-sume, o-bey, con- 
tra-diet, re-col-lect, re-mem-ber, de-li-be-rate. 



B 5 



10 



CHAPTEE I. 

SECTION I. 
TM-R SIMPI.K SENTBl^CS. 

A thouglit expressed in words forms aSENTEKCE. 

In every sentence we find two distinct ideas ; the 
one an idea of the person or thing spoken of, the 
other an idea of what is said about the person or 
thing so spoken of; or, in other words, the first an 
idea of the object conceived; the second, an idea of 
the judgment pronounced of it. 

Thus in every sentence we may distinguish. 

The Subject, or thing spoken of; and 

The PnEDiCATE, or what is asserted of the 
subject. 

Subject. Predicate. 

Ex. : The bee is an insect. 

A hare is timid. 

Time flies. 

These two distinct ideas, found in every sentence, 
are called the members of the sentence ; every sen- 
tence, however long, is divisible into these two parts, 
and each word in it belongs to one or other of them. 

EXERCISE. 

Lesson 13. — ^Write twenty simple sentences, upon any 
subjects that may suggest themselves to you. 

Ex. : The sea is calm. Night approaches. Fire bums. 



OF NUMBER. 11 

SECTION II. 
OF NUMBBR. 

In speaking, we may assert something of a single 
object, or we may speak of several objects of the 
same kind; and this consideration of the subject of 
the sentence as consisting of one or of several objects, 
brings us to what, in grammar, is called Number. 

There are two numbers; the Singular number 
and the Plural number. 

If an assertion be made of one object only, the sub- 
ject stands in the singular number. 

Ex. : A doff barks. The street is dirty. 

If we speak of several objects of the same kind, 
the subject stands in the plural number. 
Ex, Dogs bark. The streets are dirty. 

The distinction of number is, in all languages, 
commonly effected by varying the termination or end- 
ing of the substantive. English substantives may be 
divided into seven classes, after the manner in which 
they form their plural. 

1. Those which add the letter "5 " to the singular. 
Ex. : Bird, birds ; pipe, pipes ; chief, chiefs ; race, races. 

2. Those which add " es " to the singular. 

Ex. : Torch, torches ; mass, masses ; fox, foxes ; rush, rushes. 

3. Those which change "/" or "/e " into ''ves.'' 
This is not the case with all substantives of these ter- 
minations ; some of them belong to the first class, but 
the following will illustrate the rule. 

Ex. : "Wolf, wolves ; wife, wives ; thief, thieves ; leaf, leaves. 

4. Those which change " ?/," preceded by a con- 
sonant, into " ies.'^ 

Ex. : Fly, flies ; city, cities ; territory, territories. 



12 OF NUMBER. 

5. A few that change the yowel or vowels of the 
singTilar. 

Ex. : Man, men ; goose, geese ; tootli, teeth ; mouse, mice. 

6. Several which form then* plural quite irregularly. 

Ex. : Ox, oxen ; child, children ; penny, pence ; brother, 
brethren (in a religious or poetical style). 

7. Some which are the same in both numbers. 
Ex. : Deer, sheep, swine, series, species. 

In many objects we are unable to reckon number; 
we can only distinguish a greater or less quantity. 
Ex. : Iron, gold, sand, ice, flour, laziness, anger, water. 

Such substantives have commonly no plural, though 
in certain locutions they are met with in that form ; 
as, the sands of the desert ; the waters of Germany. 
A little reflection will enable us to judge of the pro- 
priety of any unusual employment of the plural num- 
ber that we may meet with in reading. 

Other substantives have no singular number. 

Ex. : Riches, alms, bowels, entrails, lungs, ethics, politics, 
measles, matins, vespers, cattle, remains. 

To these may be added the names of objects con- 
sisting of two equal parts, the word " pair " being 
understood with them. 

Ex. : Bellows, scissors, pantaloons, pincers, spectacles, shears. 

EXERCISE. 

Lesson 14. — Write twenty sentences, taking in suc- 
cession, for subjects, the following substantives in the plural 
number. 

Horse, house, bell, church, marsh, box, brush, dress, wolf, 
fife, chief, thief, boy, cry, victory, negro, foot, ox, sheep, 
muff. 

Lesson 15. — ^Write twenty sentences, having for sub- 
jects substantives in the plural number ; of which four 
require the addition of " s'* to the singular, four demand 



OF GENDER. 13 



>f 



four change "/" or "/<?'* into •* ws/* four change 
" y " into '* ies," and four alter the sound by changing the 
vowel. 



SECTION in. 
OF GENDBR. 

Many substantives serving to denote persons or 
animals indicate also the sex of the object, as king, 
lady, bull, hen. In English, on this distinction of 
sex is based the grammatical accident of Gender; 
and substantives that thus indicate sex are of the 
Masculine Gender or Feminine Gender, the 
former denoting male, the laiter female animals. 

English substantives maybe divided into two classes 
with reference to their manner of marking gender : 

1. Those which denote animals of the same spe- 
cies, but of different sex, by entirely distinct words. 

Ex. : Brother, sister ; bull, cow ; ram, ewe ; cock, hen. 

2. Those which distinguish the female from the 
male by a change of termination. 

Ex. : Actor, actress ; duke, duchess ; hero, heroine ; Hon, 
lioness. 

Substantives that serve to name animals of both sexes* 
as infant, child, sparrow, goat, &c., are said to be of Com- 
mon Gender. The way in which, when necessary, gender 
is attributed to such objects will be explained hereafter. 
(See Chap. II., Sect. I., § 6.) 

Abstract substantives and substantives naming in- 
animate and other objects without sex, are of the 
Neuter (or neither) Gender. 

Ex. : Table, conversation, arithmetic, church, deception, coach. 

There are, therefore, in English grammar, three 
genders, the Masculine, the Feminine, and the 
Neuter Gender. 



14 OF GENDER. 

By a figure of speech, called Personification, gender 
is sometimes attributed to objects without sex ; thus, the 
sun, time, &c., are regarded as masculine, and the moon, 
justice, a ship, &c., are characterized as feminine. This 
figure occasionally gives great force and beauty to our 
language. 

EXERCISE. 

Lesson 16. — Write twenty sentences, taking for subjects 
respectively the substantives, in t\iQ feminine gender, corre- 
sponding to the following male objects : 

King, emperor, lion, brother, husband, actor, uncle, son, 
bull, drake, gander, cock, nephew, executor, widower, man, 
duke, marquis, earl, bridegroom. 

Lesson 17. — Write in both genders as many substantives 
as you can recollect that indicate in themselves the sex of 
the object, whether this be shown by distinct words, or 
marked by a change of termination. 

Ex. : Bull, cow ; tiger, tigress. 

In Enghsh, Gender presents to the student no difficulty 
whatever, being based upon the sex of the object. As, 
however, a chief purpose of this work is to impart such a 
knowledge of grammatical principles as may aid the pupil 
in acquiring other languages, a few remarks may be per- 
mitted upon a subject in which our idiom is broadly distin- 
guished from others. In all other languages gender pre- 
sents to the student, at his very starting, a highly perplexing 
difficulty ; for though in the Greek and Latin, as in the 
German and kindred tongues, the three grammatical gen- 
ders exist, yet as they are frequently assigned without 
regard to sex, ideal and inanimate objects have very com- 
monly the masculine or feminine gender attributed to them ; 
while in French, Italian, &c., the neuter gender being 
wholly lost, every object whatever is of necessity regarded 
grammatically as masculine or feminine ; and much inge- 
nuity has been exercised in explaining why the attribute of 
one gender rather than the other has been assigned to par- 
ticular objects. How it happened that our rude ancestors 
should, in this respect, have placed our language upon so 
simple and rational a basis, cannot now be determined. It 
is not, however, improbable, that the fact of using two 
distinct tongues, the Saji:on and the Norman, in one of 



OF PERSON. 15 

which the neuter gender was found, while it was wanting 
in the other, and the frequent occurrence of cases where 
the same substantive was masculine in the one language 
and feminine in the other; as, for instance, the sun and 
the moon, led those in ignorance or doubt to give to such 
objects the attributes of the neuter gender, and thus esta- 
blished, by degrees, the rule of common sense. 



SECTION IV. 

OF PERSON. 

The subject of a sentence must necessarily be in 
one of the three following positions : a speaker must 
assert something about himself, about the person to 
whom he is speaking, or about some other person or 
thing ; and, consequently, the subject of the sentence 
must be, either, 

1. The person who speaks; or 

2. The person or thing spoken to ; or else, 

3. Some other person or thing spoken of. 

In grammar the speaking person is called the First 
Person; the person or thing spoken to is the Second 
Person; and any other person or thing spoken of is 
the Third Person. 

If, in asserting something about himself, the speaker 
were to use his own name, the reference would not be un- 
derstood by those who did not know him, or in instances 
where there were several persons of the same name. This 
inconvenience would exist in every language, and the uni- 
versal difficulty has been met by a remedy as general ; 
affording a beautiful illustration of the universality of the 
principles that pervade all languages. In none does a 
speaker use his own name as the subject of a proposition, 
but standing then as the First Person, he indicates that it 
is of himself he speaks, by employing a term which serves 
equally to mark every person whatever having occasion to 
speak of himself. In English, a speaker employs " I;" 



16 OF person; of case. 

and when he joins others with himself, and thus renders 
the subject plural, instead of *' I " he uses " we." 

So we find in every language, and for the same reason, 
a term indicating the party addressed, who, for the time, 
stands in the position of the Second Person. In English 
this term is " thou," changing in the plural to " you." 
Custom, however, requires that the plural " you " be em- 
ployed even in speaking to individuals, the singular number 
of the second person being seldom used except in poetry 
or prayer. 

When, in speaking, it is necessary to refer to any object 
already spoken of distinct both from the speaker and the 
person spoken to, the name of the object is not repeated, 
but it is distinguished by one of the words, " he," " she," 
** IT," according as it is of the masculine, feminine, or 
neuter gender. In the plural, " they " serves for the 
three genders. 

As every object whatever, other than the speaker and 
the thing addressed, is of the third person, it is a maxim of 
grammar that " all substantives , except when spoken to, are 
of the third person." 

The words which are employed to represent the 
different persons are called Personal Pronouns; 
the word " pronoun " clearly indicating their func- 
tion, which is, that of standing as the substitute of a 
noun (substantive). The personal pronouns, there- 
fore, which stand as the subject of a sentence, are, 

Singular. Plural. 



First Person I 
Second Person Thou 
Third Person masculine He 
feminine She 
neuter It 


We 

You 

I The^ 


SECTION V. 




OP CASE. 





The only remaining grammatical accident of the 
subject, whether represented by a substantive or a 



OF THE PREDICATE. 17 

pronoun, is that of C ase. It would greatly interfere 
with the gradual development of the construction of 
a sentence, were I to attempt the explanation, at this 
stage of our progress, of the precise value of case ; 
and the scholar must therefore, for the present, be 
content with learning that a substantive or pronoun, 
forming the subject of a sentence, stands in what is 
called the Nominative case. 



SECTION VI. 
OF THE predicate:. 

Having explained the grammatical accidents of the 
subject of the sentence, let us now consider those of 
the predicate. 

The predicate is that part of the sentence which 
asserts the judgment formed of the subject. It con- 
sists of two essentially distinct portions : — The verb, 
or word by which the assertion is effected ; and the 
ATTRIBUTE, or peculiarity by which the subject is said 
to be distinguished. 

These two distinct notions of the predicate may 
be expressed by two distinct words ; or they may both 
be conveyed by the same word. 

I. The assertion may be effected by the verb to be, 
which does not suggest the idea either of a thing, or 
a quality, or an action, but affirms the most general 
of all attributes, that of mere existence ; and while 
serving as the medium of assertion, this verb con- 
nects the special attribute with the subject of which 
it is predicated. 

Ex. : The eel is a fish. Ireland is an island. The child is 
fi:etful. Ice is slippery. 

II. By inflecting, that is, by changing the termina- 
tion of a verb which does express in itself an idea of 
action, we effect the assertion, and show, at the same 
time, the relation of the attribute or action expressed 



18 OF THE PREDICATE. 

by the verb, to the subject of which the verb pre- 
dicates. 

Ex. : The girl sing-s. The master teach-es. He write-jj. 

Every other verb contains within itself the idea of exist- 
ence that is expressed by the verb to be ; and this idea is 
conveyed by the inflected termination, the notion of the 
peculiar action asserted being conveyed by the radical por- 
tion of the verb. Thus in " the girl sings " the final " s" 
is the medium by which assertion is effected, and is the 
equivalent of "is" in "the girl is singing." So the ter- 
mination " es" in " the master teaches," is the perfect 
equivalent of " is,'* the medium of assertion in " the master 
is teaching." 

This theory that the verb to be, called by grammarians 
the Substantive Verb^ is contained in every other verb, 
will be more fully considered in a subsequent stage of our 
progress. — (See Chap. III., Sect. III.) 

Note. — When the attribute is expressed by a substan- 
tive, as in ** Ireland is an island," or " he is a doctor," such 
substantive is in the nominative case. It is a rule of 
Syntax, (that portion of grammar which treats of the 
government and arrangement of words), that " the verb 
to be takes the same case after it as before it," 



SECTION YH. 
NUMBER AND PSRSON OF THB VBRB. 

The first grammatical peculiarity of the verb of a 
simple sentence is pointed out by the rule of Syntax, 
" the verb must agree with its nominative case (sub- 
ject) in Number and Person." 

The English verb is very defective in the mechanism 
by which these concords are shown, the verb to be 
alone possessing four distinct forms to mark those of 
the person, all our other verbs having but three. 

Singular. Plural, 

Eirst person I am we are 

Second person thou art you are 

Third person he (she, it,) is they are 



]S UMBER AND PERSON OF THE VERB. 19 

Here we see, in the singular, the verb changing with the 
person of the subject ; but in the plural, the change merely 
shows the number of the subject, the same form serving for 
all the three persons. 

Let us take another verb. 

Singular. Plural. 

First person I write we write 

Second person thou ivritest you W7ite 

Third person he ivrites they write 

Here, again, in the singular, the verb changes to show 
the person of the subject ; but in the plural it not only- 
fails to mark the person, it does not even distinguish 
number, for it is identical in form with the first person of 
the singular. 

The verb, in other languages, is much more complete in 
the mechanism by which it indicates the number and person 
of its subject: Let us take, as an illustration of this point, 
the Latin verb scribere, to write. 

Singular. Plural. 

First person scrib-o, I write scrih-imus, we write 

Second person scrib-?V, thou writest scnh-itis, you write 

Third person scrib-zY, he writes scrib-ww^, they write 

Here it may be seen that the verb itself, by terminational 
changes, marks so clearly both the number and the person 
of the subject, that the omission of the pronoun causes no 
uncertainty ; and it is the same in Italian, where the pro- 
noun is rarely expressed. The French verb also has six 
distinct terminations, although ellipsis of the subject is not 
permitted in that language. These observations will suffice 
to explain to the attentive scholar the full force of the 
sjnitactical law, " the verb must agree with its subject in 
number and person." 

EXERCISE. 

Lesson 18. — Write sentences with the following verbs, 
employing as subjects the pronouns of the three persons in 
both numbers, as has been done above with the verb to 
write. 

Dance, sing, think, see, hear, read. 

Ex. : I dance, thou dancest, he (she, it) dances, we dance, &c. 



20 OF TENSE. 

Note. — The concord in number of the verb with its 
subject is liable to the following exception. When the 
substantive that is the subject of the sentence is what is 
called a Noun of multitude, that is, when it signifies a body 
that is composed of many individuals, although the sub- 
stantive itself is of the singular number, it is sometimes 
followed by a verb in the plural. With such a subject the 
number of the verb depends, in a great measure, upon the 
consideration whether the body is spoken of as a whole, or 
whether it is regarded as an aggregate of individuals. In 
the first case the verb will be in the singular number ; as, 
the crowd was dense ; the nation is powerful : but if the 
assertion applies individually to each member of the body, 
and we thus predicate of them severally, the verb will be 
in the plural ; as, the crowd were impatient ; the peasantry 
are industrious. With a subject of this kind the pupil 
may consult his own notions of propriety : these few lines 
will enable him to account for a construction of this kind 
when he meets with it in reading. 



SECTION YIII. 
OF TENSE. 

When we predicate of a subject, the assertion, as 
regards time, must express one of th.e three following 
relations. We may affirm that the subject performed 
a certain act, or was in a certain state, at a time now 
past; we may assert that, at the time of speaking, it 
is doing the act, or is in the state predicated, or we 
may say that it will perform the act, or will be in the 
state, at some time subsequent to the assertion. The 
relations of time are expressed in the English verb, 
partly by inflections of the verb itself, as make, made; 
speak, spoke, spoken; write, wrote, loritten; and 
partly by words called Auxiliary Verbs, as did 
make^ has made, will make ; does speak, will speak; 
have written, shall write. 

The auxiliary verbs of time are do, have, shall, will. 



OF TENSE. 21 

They are called auxiliary verbs, because, at tbe same 
time that they effect the assertion, they aid or help to 
show the relations of time, &c., of other verbs. 

The various modifications which the verb undergoes 
to express the different relations of time are called 
the Tenses of the verb. Our verb contains in all 
six tenses ; three of which having a direct reference 
to the time of speaking, but with no necessary rela- 
tion to any other event or time, are Absolute 
Tenses; to which must be added a fourth, used 
in speaking of an action simply as past, without any 
direct indication of the precise time, or any allusion 
to the time of speaking. The other two, referring 
more or less directly to some other event, are Relative 
Tenses, whose consideration will be deferred for the 
present. 

The Absolute Tenses are — 

1. The Present Tense. 

Ex. : The sun shines. I see. The night conies. The weather 
is cold. 

2. The Perfect Tense Indefinite. 

Ex. : The sun shone. I saw. The night came. The weather 
was cold. 

3. The Perfect Tense Definite. 

Ex. : The sun has shone. I haye seen. The night has come. 
The weather has been cold. 

4. The Future Tense. 

Ex. : The sun will shine. I shall see. The night will come. 
The weather will be cold. 

The Perfect Tense Indefinite, though it expresses perfect 
action, is called by many of our grammarians the Imper- 
fect Tense. It forms our historical tense, being that 
employed in narration, when speaking of a past action 
indefinitely; "Carthage perished," "Felix trembled." 
Habitual or continued action may be expressed by this 
tense, as it is by the imperfect tense of other languages ; 
but when we would convey the notion of incomplete action. 



22 OF TENSE. 

we employ the verb to be and a participle, a form of ex- 
pression that will be explained hereafter. 

The Present Tense is expressed by the verb 
itself. 

The Perfect Tense Indefinite is formed by 
inflection of the verb, the change consisting, in what 
are called regular verbs, of the addition of *' d " or 
" ed " to the first person of the present tense ; tremble, 
trembled;- expect^ expected. When the simple word 
terminates in a single consonant, this letter is fre- 
quently doubled in the inflected forms; travel, tra- 
veiled; compel, compelled; prefer, preferred ; omit, 
omitted. In some two hundred of our most familiar 
verbs, a list of which will be found in a subsequent 
part of this work, and which are called Irregular 
Verbs, the perfect tense indefinite is formed other- 
wise than by the addition of " d " or " e<^," as in the 
verbs given above, shone, saiv, came. These verbs 
are from Saxon roots, in which language they are 
also irregular. 

The Perfeci Tense Definite is formed by the 
aid of the auxiliary verb have. 

The Future Tense is formed by the auxiliaries 
shall and will. 

A difference of opinion exists among writers on English 
grammar as to what really constitutes a tense. Some con- 
tend that that only can be regarded as such where the 
relation of time is shown by inflection of the verb itself, in 
which case we have but two tenses, the Present and the 
Perfect Indefinite, as / walk, I walked. Others maintain 
that any combination of the verb and the auxiliary, in which 
the latter expresses a relation of time only, is fairly a tense. 
Our English verb is as deficient in the inflected forms 
serving to express relations of time, as it is in those which 
indicate the number and person of the subject. It has for 
its model the Saxon verb, whose tenses are also formed by 
auxiliary verbs ; yet I am not aware that German gram- 
marians doubt the existence of a perfect and a future tense 
in their language. The Latin verb, which may again serve 



OF TEKSE. 23 

to illustrate the point in question, has six distinct forms 
corresponding to our six tenses> which clearly mark, by- 
changes of termination alone, those relations of time which 
are, in our verb, shown by auxihary verbs. 

ScriSo I write 

Scribebam I wrote 

Scripsi I have written 

Scripseram I had written 

Scribam I shall write 

Scripsero I shall have written. 

As we express, by the aid of our auxiliary verbs of time, 
precisely those relations of time which are in most other 
languages shown by the inflections of the verb itself, and 
which there constitute tenses, I shall regard as tenses 
these our complex forms, which are their exact equivalents, 
caring very little for technical terms if the pupil arrive at 
a clear perception of the true functions of words. 

EXERCISE. 

Lesson 19. — Write twenty sentences with a predicate 
in the Present Tense, and a subject in the plural number. 

Ex. : The apples fall. Asses are stubborn. Magpies chatter. 
We consent. 

Lesson 20. — Write twenty sentences with a predicate 
in the Perfect Tense Indefinite, the subject being an abstract 
substantive. 

JSx. : The effort succeeded. The fashion changed. Industry 
prospered. The price fell. 

Lesson 21. — Write twenty sentences, the predicate 
being in the Perfect Tense Definite, and the subject in the 
singular number. 

Bx. : The moon has set. The packet has sailed. 

Lesson 22. — Write twenty sentences with a predicate 
in the Future Tense, the subject being a personal pronoun. 

Ex. : I will wiite. We shall see. 



24 OF MOOD. 

SECTION IX. 
OF MOOB. 

The judgments wliicli we express are not always 
absolute : they are sometimes mere assumptions, 
dependent on certain hypotheses^ restricted by certain 
conditions, or formed under circumstances where no 
latitude of judgment is allowed. In these cases, in 
order to show the qualified or restricted nature of 
such a judgment, the force of the verb is modified by 
various contrivances, in which has its origin the gram- 
matical peculiarity called Mood. 

This is one of the more abstruse parts of grammar; 
and though from the simple construction of our verb 
it is not of great consequence in English, yet as a clear 
comprehension of what is really meant by the term 
will aid the pupil's progress in other languages, and 
is indeed essential to it, I shall endeavour to give him 
a definite idea of what grammatical Mood really is. 

1. Wejmay assert something of a subject as 'po- 
sitive. 

Ex. : A child plays. The sun has risen. Night will come. 

2. We may assert something of a subject as pos- 
sible, probable, or obligatory. 

Ex.: The boy can write. You may have erred. Man must 
die. 

3. We may command, entreat, or wish, that some- 
thing be done by the subject. 

Ex,: March. Be quiet. Thy kingdom come. Let them 
beware. 

4. We may speak of action generally, without 
reference to any particular object from which it 
proceeds. 

Ex. : To love. To have seen. To speak. To be quiet. 

5. We may assert something as contingent upon a 
certain con.ceived state of things ; and, in expressing 
this complicated idea, it is necessary to indicate the 



OF MOCD. 25 

unreal or assumed nature of the proposition upon 
which the actuality of the other assertion is depen- 
dent. This is accomplished by employing the verb 
in a manner that clearly shows the fact to be merely 
assumed, and not asserted. 

Ex. : I -wotild travel, loere I rich. Should the master consent, 
we will go. 

The office of that modification of the verb, which is 
called mood, is to indicate these different intentions of 
the speaker. 

The assertion, that a thing actually is, has been, or 
will be, is expresses by the Indicative Mood. 
In English this mode of expression is accomplished 
by the verb itself, aided by the auxiliary verbs of 
time only. 

Possibility, Probability, and Obligation are asserted 
by the Potential Mood. To express possibility 
or probability we make use of the auxiliary verbs of 
mood, may, can. Obligation, or necessity, is expressed 
by the auxihary verbs of mood, ought, must, shall, 
should. 

The intimation of a command or a wish is given by 
the Imperative Mood, rendered by the verb 
itself, aided by the auxiliary verb of mood, let. 

The forms of the verb serving to express action, 
without a direct reference to the object fi'om which it 
emanates, or, in other words, those forms of the verb 
used without a nominative, are of the Infinitive 
Mood; a form, however, that does not occur in 
simple sentences. 

When the truth or actuality of a direct assertion is 
contingent upon an assumed or conceived fact, the 
verb which expresses the latter is in the Subjunc- 
tive Mood; but as neither this form nor that of the 
Infinitive can occur in a simple sentence, the con- 
sideration of these two peculiarities of the verb wiU 
be deferred until complex sentences are treated of. 

A difference, similar to that about tense, exists amongst 

c 



26 OF MOOD. 

our grammarians as to Y/hat really constitutes a mood. The 
sticklers for a rigorous interpretation of words contend, 
that a mood must consist of a modification of the verb 
itself; and that where the qualified manner of the asser- 
tion is expressed by an auxiliary verb, the latter is in the 
Indicative, the principal verb being then in the Infinitive, 
mood. 

If this were so, there would be an end at once of aux- 
iliary verbs, whether of tense or mood, as they would all 
be principal verbs : and the mere English, student would 
have no idea of what the term mood really meant. In the 
expressions, " he lurites," " he can write," " let him write," 
the action of which it is question is clearly that of writing, 
and nothing else ; but the qualified nature of the assertion 
in the two last sentences, can, in English, only be shown 
by auxiliary verbs, while in Latin (from which I shall again 
draw an illustration of the subject, by showing an example 
of mood in the stringent sense of the word), these modifi- 
cations are effected by changing the form of the verb 
itself. 

Indicative Mood, scribzY he writes 

Potential Mood, scribal he may write 

Imperative Mood, scribz7o let him write 

Above we see indicated with the utmost precision, by a 
change of termination, those modifications in the manner 
of the assertion, which we express by our auxiliary verbs of 
mood. 

This question of the actual existence of mood in our 
language is of little consequence, at least for the present ; 
and its further consideration will be deferred till his 
onward progress shall enable the pupil to appreciate the 
subject justly. 



Lesson 23. — Write twenty sentences, asserting a j?05z- 
tive state or action of the subject. 

Ex. : Man is mortal. A kitten plays. The rain has ceased. 

Lesson 24. — Write twenty sentences, asserting some- 
thing of the subject as possible or as obligatory. 

Ex. : The patient may recover. I mnst go. 



COKCORD OF THE ADJECTIVE. 27 

SECTION X. 

CONCORD OF THE ADJBCTIVB. 

Let us now consider some of the grammatical pecu- 
liarities of adjectives. It is a rule of general syntax, 
that the adjective agrees in number, gender, and case, 
with the substantive to which it is joined ; a rule, the 
exact meaning of which is scarcely perceptible to the 
student who is ignorant of every language except 
English, and which therefore demands a detailed 
explanation. 

In the phrase " a good man," good is of the singular 
number, masculine gender, and nominative case, because the 
substantive " man " is distinguished by those peculiarities : 
the consideration of the latter accident, case, will however 
be postponed for the present. In " good men," the adjec- 
tive sympathising with the substantive becomes plural and 
masculine. In the phrase " a good woman," good is sin- 
gular and /emmme, while in "good women" it \^ plural and 
feminine. So in " a good example," the adjective assuming 
the gender of its substantive is singular and neuter ; and in 
"good examples" it is plural and neuter. The student 
scarcely conceives the object of these imaginary changes in 
the character of the adjective , and, in order to enable him 
to do so, I must again borrow an illustration from another 
language. Let the same phrases be exhibited in Latin, 
and he will instantly perceive that what seems with us a 
mere theory becomes in another language a vital reality. 
The Latin for good, as found in the dictionary, is "bonus ;" 
a good man, " hojius homo," singular and masculine ; good 
men, " ^owz homines," plural masculine ; a good woman, 
"bona mulier," singular feminine; good women, "bonce 
mulieres," plural feminine ; a good example, " bonum exem- 
plum," neuter singular ; good examples, *' bona exempla," 
neuter plural. Here we see the adjective varying its ter- 
mination according to the number and gender of the sub- 
stantive to which it is joined ; and the same thing occurs 
in every other language of which I have any knowledge. 

c'2 



28 * OF NEGATION. 

A disregard or violation of this concord is in sucli lan- 
guages a grave offence against grammar, of which none 
but illiterate persons are guilty. 

Whence the immutable form of our adjective arises, 
would, perhaps, be determined with difficulty ; though it is 
not improbable that it rests upon the rational basis of our 
grammatical gender. It would be useless to pursue this 
inquiry here ; enough has been said to enable the pupil to 
appreciate justly the rule which declares that " the adjective 
must agree in number, gender, and case, with the substantive 
to which it is joined." 



SECTION XL 
OP WISGATIOW. 

We may assert that the subject is in a certain 

state, or performs a certain action ; or we may assert 

that it is not in such state, or does not perform such 

action; and this negative form of assertion may be 

employed in every mood of the verb. 

Ex. : The apple is not ripe. The boy cannot read. A child 
must not cry. Do not be idle. Stir not. 

Negation is commonly expressed by the word 
" not." In negative sentences, having no other aux- 
iliary verb, we generally employ the auxiliary '^ do." 

Ex. : The ice does not melt. The children did not cry. 

This auxiliary " do'' adds nothing whatever to the mean- 
ing of the verb, but serves as the medium of assertion, 
and indicates the relations of number, person, and tense; the 
verb itself remaining unchanged. It is a mere equivalent 
of the inflected portions of a verb, and therefore cannot be 
joined with another auxiliary, because such inflections are 
expressed by the auxihary. Hence its employment is 
limited to the Present and Perfect Indefinite tenses, for in 
all the others we find an auxiliary verb. In poetry and 
animated language this needless auxihary '-'do" is com- 
monly omitted. 

When the proposition holds imiversally true, as 



OF NEGATION. 29 

applied to every object of the species named by the 
substantive, the negative is commonly transferred 
from the predicate, to which logically it belongs, and 
stands with the subject, the adjective "?2o" being 
substituted for " tzo^." 

Ex. : No man is perfect. No horse can fly. 

EXERCISE. 

Lesson 25. — Write twenty negative sentences, employ- 
ing the words "no" or "not.'" 

Ex. : The sparrow does not sing. No egg is square. 

The negative proposition predicates the absence of 
a certain quality, without asserting, or necessarily 
implying, the presence of the opposite one. When 
it is intended to assert, not merely the absence of a 
certain attribute, but the presence of the antagonist 
quality, a negative syllable is commonly added to the 
adjective. The syllable "w?z" prefixed to an adjec- 
tive has always a negative sense ; " in " (changing to 
"ii;' ''im,'' "ir,''&c.) and '' dis'' are frequently, 
but not invariably, negatives. The suffix " less^' has 
always a negative sense. 

Ex.: Gaming is {mmoxal. He has been {^discreet. She is 
tmgrateful. Confinement is <?wagreeable. An idler is use- 
less. The boy is thoughtless. 

EXERCISE. 

Lesson 26. — Write twenty sentences, in which a nega- 
tive sense is expressed by a syllable prefixed or suffixed to 
the adjective. 

Ex. : The child is blameless. The bridge is wwsafe. 

As two negatives counteract each other, and thus 
render the sense affirmative, this form of expression 
is sometimes used with a graceful effect. 

Ex.: The smell is 7iot wwpleasant; that is, it is agreeable. 
The precaution was not needless. 

EXERCISE. 

Lesson 27. — Write twenty sentences in which, by em- 



30 OF NEGATION. 

ploying a double negative (the word not, and a negative 
syllable), the sense is rendered affirmative. 

Ex.: The taste is not ^f^agreeable. The writing is not il- 
legible. 

We have some verbs, compounded with these negative 
syllables, which predicate action the reverse of that ex- 
pressed by the simple verb ; as to wwfold, to uniiQ, to 
f^fsbelieve, to dishorn., &c. Such negative syllables are 
sometimes improperly prefixed to verbs having in them- 
selves a negative signification. This is the case for instance 
with the verbs to annul, to loose or loosen, and to sever: the 
first signifying to render void, the second to wwfasten, the 
last to dis]om.. The expressions d'fsannul, wwloose, and 
dis^QYev, which we sometimes hear employed, are in- 
correct. 

Note. — "When the auxiliary verb of mood can is em- 
ployed in a negative sentence, it is commonly written with 
the negative in a single word, " cannot." 



SECTION XII. 
THE GENITIVE CASE. 

In the first stages of society, man, by making a 
provision for the morrow, laid the foundation of a 
right of property; and the assertion of this right 
must soon have originated a form of speech calculated 
to express it. This consisted in a peculiar inflection 
of the owner's name ; and, by analogy, the same form 
became employed in speaking of the properties of 
irrational, inanimate, and even ideal objects. In 
English this inflection consists in placing the letter 
'^5," preceded by an apostrophe ('s), after the sub- 
stantive, which then stands in what is called the 
Genitive Case. 

Ex. : The book is John's. The notes are a nightingale's. 

When the plural ends in s, which, as already seen, it 
commonly does, a second 5 is not added; but in writing the 
apostrophe is retained: "the Merchant Tailors' School;" 



THE GENITIVE CASE. 31 

"the Farmers' Journal." Sometimes when the singular 
number ends in ss, s, or letters having a similar sound, 
the apostrophe only is used, especially if the following 
word begins with " s" : for conscience' sake. Here the 
introduction of the genitive termination would sound very 
disagreeably, and might besides be mistaken for the plural. 
If we speak of a thing belonging to ourselves, to 
the person addressed, or to a person or thing already 
mentioned, we do not name the owner, but employ 
instead a peculiar form, called the Genitive Case of 
the appropriate personal Pronoun. 

Singular. Plural. 

Pirst Person, The fault is mine, The fault is ours. 

Second Person, The watch is thine, The watch is yours. 

Third Person masc. The whip is his, \ 

fern. The doll is hers, ? The books are theirs. 

neut. The nuts are its. ) 

As before observed, custom requires us, in addressing 
an individual, to use the plural number of the personal 
pronoun, — and this usage extends to the genitive case. 
The neuter pronoun of the third person singular is rarely, 
if ever, used in the genitive case ; but I have here given an 
example, showing analogically what its form must be, 
were it so employed. 

EXERCISE. 

Lesson 28. — Write twenty sentences, employing in the 
predicate a substantive in the genitive case. 

E:r. : The slate is William's. The cries are a woman's. 
Lesson 29. — Write five similar sentences with the 
genitive case, in both numbers, of each of the personal 
pronouns. 

Ea;. : The book is mine. The honour is thine, &e. 



SECTION XIII. 
ORDBR OF WORDS. 



The words of a sentence are commonly placed in a 
certain order; and, in a simple sentence, we may 
usually distinguish three places. 



32 ORDER OF WORDS. 



1 . That of the Subject. 




2. That of the Verb. 




3. That of the Attribute. 




Ex.: 1. 


2. 


3. 


The bee 


is 


an insect 


The sun 


•was 


bright. 


The men 


have been 


diligent. 


The dress 


is 


a girl's. 


The linnet 


sings. 




Asses 


bray. 





When the entire predicate (the assertion and the 
attribute) is expressed by the verb itself, as in the 
last two examples, the third place is vacant. 

This arrangement of the words of a sentence, 
called the direct order, is however frequently 
changed, the subject following the asserting word 
(the inflected verb, whether principal or auxiliary,) 
when the order is said to be inverted. This in- 
version always takes place when a question is asked. 

Ex. : Is the bee an insect ? 

Have the men been diligent ? 

Will the sun shine ? 

Am I correct ? 

In negative as in interrogative sentences, where no 
other auxiliary verb is found, we commonly employ 
the auxiliary do, 

Ex. : Does the linnet sing ? 

Did the asses bray ? 

Although in poetry and rhetorical expressions this aux- 
iliary is sometimes dispensed with in interrogations, it 
would sound strangely were we, in conversation, to demand 
"sings the linnet?" while the question "bray asses?" 
would be absolutely unintelligible. In most languages the 
interrogative character of the coming sentence is indicated 
by commencing it with the verb. 

In poetry, in animated language, or when we 
would give especial importance to the attribute, we 
invert the order of the words ; placing in front the 
representative of the idea to which we would give 
prominence. 



ORDER OF WORDS. 



33 



Ex. 



Mighty 


is 


the Lord ! 


Die 


the traitor 


shall. 


Yours 


has been 


the danger 


Yours 


be 


the glory. 



EXERCISE. 

Lesson 30. — Write twenty sentences in the form of 
questions, taking care to put a mark of interrogation (?) 
after each. 



Ex. : Can Emma read ? Is idleness excusable ? 
packet arrived ? Will the project succeed ? 



Has the 



c 5 



34 



CHAPTEE 11. 
THE SIMPLE SENTENCE EXTENDED. 

SECTION I. 

CIiOS£R BEPIHITSOW OF SUBSTAIM"- 
TIVB^. ADDITION. 

The judgments which we assert are frequently formed 
with reference to some particular state of the subject, 
and would not be applicable to it in the full and unre- 
stricted sense of the substantive. In such a case^ in 
order to show the precise sense in which the substan- 
tive is used, it becomes necessary to couple with the 
idea of the object itself, an accessory idea expressive 
of the restriction. This may sometimes be eifected 
by using an appellative of a subordinate class of the 
objects named by the general substantive. Let us 
take, for example, the word soldiei^, a subordinate 
class of the race man. This word expresses the com- 
plex idea of a man, and of a certain profession which 
he follows ; and an assertion, perfectly true of a sol- 
dier, might be false as applied to men in general. 
Lancer adds again to the notions conveyed by soldier, 
the ideas of serving on horseback, and fighting with 
a certain weapon. So the words recruit and veteran 
convey notions of youth and age in addition to other 
ideas. The word infant names one of the human 
race in its tenderest age, and the terms child, boy or 
girl, youth or maiden, man or icoman, serve to indicate 
the same creature in advancing stages of existence; 
but we have, in English, no substantive that names a 
human being of either sex when loaded with years. 



DEFINITION OF SUBSTANTIVES. 35 

There are perhaps no substantives that, strictly speaking-, 
express simple ideas ; for they all suggest to us ol3Jects as 
distinguished by certain attributes. Independently however 
of the names of objects, we find in all languages words, 
which, formed by a combination of terms, convey complex 
ideas in a perfectly lucid manner ; and no language is richer 
in such expressions than our own. But the English, having 
borrowed largely from other tongues, contains many words, 
which, though highly graphic in their native idiom, excite 
no definite idea in the minds of those ignorant of their 
derivation. For instance, the word polygamy is as completely 
Greek to an ignorant man, as though it were written in 
the characters of that language ; yet could its constituent 
members be translated literally, and form such a word as 
manymarriage, its meaning would become tolerably clear 
to him. 

It would be utterly impracticable to invent dis- 
tinct terms for every individual object, and for 
every varying state of the same object; and therefore, 
instead of rendering language unintelligible by inde- 
finitely multiplying terms, we express, by various 
combinations of a limited number of words, every 
possible state in which the object named by a substan- 
tive can be imagined to exist. Human intelligence, 
wholly unable to form simple terms that would answer 
this purpose, and impelled by a necessity as absolute 
in one language as in another, has in all accomplished 
the object by analogous methods. In all, the signi- 
fication of a substantive may be so restricted as to 
point out even an individual object of a species, or to 
express, with the utmost precision, the nicest distinc- 
tions that the mind is capable of making in its per- 
ceptions of either material or ideal objects. 

This closer determination of the sense of a substan- 
tive, called in grammar, Addition, is, in English, 
efifected in various ways, some of which I will now 
proceed to describe; leaving others till the gradual 
development of the mechanism of our language shall 
bring the pupil to the consideration of those principles 
upon which they are based. 



36 DEFINITION OF SUBSTANTIVES. 

I. The signification of a substantive is more closely 
determined by prefixing an adjective. 

Ex. : A ripe apple falls. Wet weather is unpleasant. The 
watchful dog barks. A naughty child pouts. Gold is a 
precious metal. The pheasant is a handsome bird. The 
plough is a useful implement. Sincerity is true wisdom, 

EXERCISE. 

Lesson 31. — Write twenty sentences, in each of which 
the subject is defined by an adjective, and draw a line under 
the latter. 

Ex. : Green fruit is unwholesome. A good child obeys. Dirty 
hands are a disgrace. 

Lesson 32. — Write twenty sentences, in which a sub- 
stantive, in the predicate, is defined by an adjective, under- 
lined as before. 

Ex. : England is a powerful kingdom. Lead is a heavy metal. 
James is a diligent scholar. 

II. One substantive is frequently defined by another 
substantive in the genitive case. 

Ex. : Man's life is uncertain. The toad's eye is brilliant. The 
nighti^igaW s song is sweet. The miller's daughter is fair. 
The lion's roar alarms. The rook's feathers shine. A fool's 
cap will be the dunce's portion. 

EXERCISE. 

Lesson 33. — Write twenty sentences, in each of which 
the subject is defined by another substantive in the genitive 
case, underlined as in the last lesson. 

Ex. : The peacock's tail is beautiful. The duke's horse has 
won. 

III. It is a rule of syntax, that " one substantive 
governs another substantive, signifying a different 
thing, in the genitive case^ This means, that when 
we would define one substantive by another, the de- 
fining substantive must be put into the genitive case, 
as in the examples given under the last rule. 

In other languages this rule is of pretty general applica- 
tion, but in English, as we shall presently see, it is very 



ADDITION. 37 

frequently disregarded. Whether this arises from our 
attaching a more distinct idea of ownership to this case 
than is done in other languages, and therefore only using 
it when the notion of property is tolerahly clear ; or whe- 
ther it springs from the same cause that prompts the 
omission of plural terminations to our adjectives, I cannot 
say. Our dislike of plural definitives is however so de- 
cided, that we sometimes suppress the sign of plurality in 
substantives, when thus employed, which otherwise have 
only the plural form. A Z/oz^e/- complaint, a spectacle-vaskeTf 
matin songs, vesper hymns, the oat-ham, the snvffer -tr ay , 
are instances of plural substantives thus employed ; and as 
the genitive case terminates, like the plural number, in 
the letter s, it is not improbable that the suppression of a 
form so likely to be mistaken for the plural, and thus to 
produce uncertainty or error, may have originated in this 
cause. 

The following sentences present examples of sub- 
stantives defined by other substantives without the 
sign of the genitive ; but if they were translated into 
another language, it would be necessary that the de- 
fining word should there be put into the genitive 
case; or into the form equivalent to it, where the 
peculiarity of case does not exist. 

Ex. : The castle bell has rung. The kitchen door is open. 
The park gates are handsome. The cottaffc chimney smokes. 
The garden fence is green. The cellar key is bright. The 
chicrch steeple is lofty. The dainj shelves are clean. 

EXERCISE. 

Lesson 34. — Write twenty sentences in which the 
subject is defined, as in the last examples, by another sub- 
stantive, to which the one defined may be considered as 
belonging. 

Ex. : The farm buildings are substantial. 

Our language contains many hundred substantives that, 
consisting originally of two distinct words, are now pro- 
nounced and written as a concrete word, bv the union of 
the definitive with the word defined. The fo'llowing are of 
this kind, in some of which the definitive still retains the 



m 



38 DEFINITION OF SUBSTANTIVES. 

form of the genitive : sunshine, moonlight, chambermaid^ 
postlad, fireplace, inkstand, lamhsiuool, horsehair, candlestick, 
teapot, cowslip, henbane, landsman, coxcomb (cockscomb), &c. 
This faculty of forming compound terms the English 
inherits from the Saxon. In German, however, the com- 
pound term is written as one word, or, when the sign of 
the genitive case is omitted, the defining substantive is 
always connected with the other by a hyphen, thus; cavalry- 
barracks, exhibition-room. It would be well were this 
usage general in English ; but as it is not, I can only re- 
commend the pupil to observe it carefully wherever custom 
sanctions it. By regarding such terms as compound sub- 
stantives, we withdraw them from the operation of the 
grammatical canon, '* One substantive governs another 
substantive, signifying a different thing, in the genitive 
case." 

EXERCISE. 

Lesson 35. — Let the pupil try to recollect fifty compound 
substantives now written as one word ; a task which a little 
patience and perseverance will accomplish. 

Ex. : Birdlime, staircase, housewife, dovecot. 

ly. The following words serve to define objects 
within view of the speaker, or that have been already 
mentioned : this, that, these, those, same, such, other, 
yon, called Demonstratives; and ^Ae, called the 
Definite Article. 

Ex. : The man is mad. This book will amuse. That child 
trembles. These roses are fragrant. Those swans are wild. 
Yon man is a lawyer. Such things are hurtful. The same 
swallows have returned. The other passengers escaped. 



Lesson 36. — Write four sentences with each of the 
words just given used to determine the subject more pre- 
cisely. 

Ex. : The beggar approaches. This path is crooked. 

Y. Substantives are frequently defined by a peculiar 
class of words called Possessive or Adjective 
Pronouns, so named because in the character of 



ADDITION. 



39 



pronouns they indicate the person of the possessor ; 
while as adjectives they agree in gender, number, 
and case with the substantive defined. They deter- 
mine the substantive by an attribute of ownership, 
and are formed from the genitive cases of the respective 
Personal Pronouns. They are as follow : 

Sififfular. Plural. 

1st (speaking) person my our 

2nd (spoken to) person _ thy your 

3rd (spoken of) person masculine his 

feminine her ^ their 
neuter its 



} 



Ex. : My book is liandsome. Thy will be done. His hair 
curls. Her eyes are hazel. Its tail is bushy. Our books 
are torn. Your linnet sings. Their fault was grave. 

The possessive pronoun of the second person singular, 
Uke the personal pronoun, is only used in devotional exer- 
cises or in poetry. In the third person singular the mas- 
culine and neuter possessive pronouns are identical in form 
with the genitive cases of the personal pronouns he and it ; 
but this identity offers no difficulty if the student bear in 
mind that our possessive pronoun is never found without 
its substantive ; while the genitive case of the personal 
pronoun cannot be employed to define a substantive, and, 
consequently, always stands alone. It is true that in our 
translation of the Scriptures, and even elsewhere, we some- 
times find mine and thine standing as definitives before words 
beginning with a vowel, but this is a fault that is no longer 
common. Murray has fallen into a very palpable error 
when he says, that in English substantives govern not 
only substantives but pronouns also in the genitive case, 
and gives as an example of this rule " every tree is known 
by its fruit." I have already remarked that the genitive 
case singular of the neuter pronoun is not used ; and, if 
we change the number of the subject in the above propo- 
sition to the plural, we shall instantly perceive that it is 
not the genitive case of the personal pronoun, but the pos- 
sessive pronoun, that is employed ; for we should not say, 
" all trees are known by theirs fruits," which is the form of 
the genitive in the plural. The nature of our possessive 



40 DEFINITION OF SUBSTANTIVES. 

adjectives is not altered by the fact that they must some- 
times be rendered in other languages by the genitive case 
of a personal pronoun. 

EXERCISE. 

Lesson 37. — Write three sentences, and define the sub- 
ject by each of the possessive pronouns in both numbers ; 
making in all twenty-four sentences. 

Ex. : My head aches. Thy slate is dirty, &c. 

Remark. — An Englishman is generally puzzled, on com- 
mencing the study of another language, to find that the 
possessive pronoun must agree in gender with the thing 
defined, instead of agreeing with the possessor. It ap- 
pears strange to him that, in such a phrase as ** my 
mother," he must make my agree with mother in the 
feminine gender ; and this feeling is stronger in the case 
of the possessive pronoun of the third person, which in 
English has in the singular three distinct forms, his^ her, 
its, indicating the gender of the possessor, a peculiarity 
that is not found in other languages. It must be borne in 
mind that though ** his," for instance, as a pronoun, 
shows incidentally the gender of the possessor, it still, as. 
an adjective, agrees in gender with the substantive that it 
defines, and, therefore, that in the phrase "his father,'* 
his is masculine singular, in ** his mother," feminine sin-, 
gular ; in " his hat," neuter singular ; and that it becomes 
masculine plural if we change the number, and say, " his 
sons," &c. ; and so with the other adjective pronouns. It 
is from the unchanging form of our adjective that springs 
the notion of incongruity which invariably strikes the English 
student when he first meets with the possessive pronoun in 
another language. 

VI. Another manner of defining substantives of 
common gender, is to use either a substantive, an ad- 
jective, or a personal pronoun, indicating the sex of 
the object. This is the way in which, when requisite, 
gender is shown with those substantives that have no 
distinctive termination. 

Ex. : Our man-cook is ill. The maid-sex\ant laughed. A 
Ae-goat is mischievous. A female elephant has arrived. 
His male friend answered. A coe^-pheasant is handsome. 
The bull calf grows. 



ADDITION. 41 

EXERCISE. 

Lesson 38. — Write twenty sentences, in each of which 
the subject is defined by an attribute of gender. 
Ex. : Your maw-cook is fat. 

VII. We have seen (Chap. I. Sect. II.) that 
number, grammatically considered, is limited to sin- 
gular and plural. These two forms would however 
be wholly inadequate to convey our impressions in 
this respect, and therefore, to determine number and 
quantity with greater precision, certain words, called 
Numerals, are employed. 

Numerals are. of two kinds: Definite, and 
Indefinite. Definite Numerals point out a 
precisely determined number : they are one, tioo, 
three, . . ten, tiventy, fifty, hundred, thousand, ^c. 

In written language the Definite Numerals are often 
represented by particular signs, instead of being expressed 
in words, which latter mode would render arithmetical ope- 
rations tedious, if not impracticable. In ancient times 
notation was effected by peculiar arrangements of certain 
letters, as with the sections of this work, which are num- 
bered after the Roman method ; but the present method of 
writing numbers, which was introduced into Europe from 
Arabia, is infinitely more simple. Every possible number 
can be readily expressed, as the pupil is aware, by means of 
the ten figures, I, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 0. 

Indefinite Numerals indicate number or quan- 
tity in a manner more or less precise. The following 
words belong to this class : a, an, all, any, both, divers, 
each, either, enough, every, few, little, many, more, 
most, much, neither, no, several, some, 

A, an, are called by our grammarians the Indefinite 
Article; but as their only use is to mark somewhat 
more emphatically the singular number of a substantive, 
they may be classed with those words whose sole function 
is to serve as attributes of number. 

EXERCISE. 

Lesson 39. — Write twenty sentences, determining more 
accurately the subject of each by an Indefinite numeral. 
Ex. : Little hope remains. Several pigeons escaped. 



42 DEFINITION OF SUBSTANTIVES. 

Remark. — ^The signification of few and little is some- 
what extended when preceded by the indefinite article. 

Ex. : Little ( = scarcely any) hope remains. A little ( = not 
insignificant) hope remains. Few ( = scarcely any) persons 
were present. A few ( = not an inconsiderable number of) 
persons were present. 

Adjectives, and other Definitives, when single, com- 
monly precede the substantives which they define. There 
are some few adjectives that can only be employed in the 
predicate, as for example, well, ill, alive, aivake. We can- 
not say a well man, an alive fish. Some adjectives have a 
meaning when predicated of a subject, difi'ering from that 
which they convey when used to define a substantive. In 
the sentence, " the man is wrong," we assert that the 
subject errs ; but the phrase " the wrong man " expresses 
want of identity. 

I will here recapitulate the seven different kinds of 
Addition already enumerated, by which the sense of a 
substantive is more accurately determined. 

1. By an adjective : the old man. 

2. By a substantive in the genitive case : the king^s 
palace. 

3. By a substantive with the sign of the genitive 
case omitted : the parish church. 

4. By a demonstrative pronoun : that house, yon 
man. 

5. By a possessive pronoun : our father. 

6. By an attribute of sex : the coc^-sparrow. 

7. By a numeral : five sheep, much gold. 

Other peculiarities of Definition will be adverted 
to and explained in our onward progress. 



SUBJECT REPRESENTED BY THE DEFINITIVE. 43 



SECTION II. 

SUBJECT RBPRlSSEnTEiD BY THE 
DEFINITIVE. 

By a figure, called Ellipsis, a substantive is fre- 
quently omitted, the idea of tlie object being expressed 
by a definitive. This is, in English, more especially 
the case when classes of persons are spoken of; for 
as our definitives generally do not indicate either the 
number or gender of their substantive, this form can- 
not commonly be used in predicating of an individual 
person, though instances may be found where it is 
thus employed. When the substantive is represented 
by an adjective, the latter is mostly preceded by the 
definite article, but other definitives are found without 
the article. 

Ex. : The pious pray. The brave are generous. The indtis- 
trious prosper. Saint Paul's (cathedral) is a noble building. 
TTie bookseller's (house) is large. The fishmonger' s (shop) is 
closed. Some (persons) are fortunate. Many fail. Fe%D 
will come. All were gay. Three refused. The past is irre- 
coverable. The future is uncertain. *' The rich hath many 
friends." 

All adjective and pronominal definitives permit ellipsis 
of the substantive, except the definite and indefinite arti- 
cles, the numerals no, every, and the possessive pronouns 
my, thy, &c. 

EXERCISE. 

Lesson 40. — Write twenty sentences, taking for the 
subject of each an adjective preceded by the definite 
article. 

Ew. : The ignorant are obstinate. 

Lesson 41. — Write twenty similar sentences, employing 
as subject either an indefinite numeral or a demonstrative 
pronoun. 

Ex. : Many answered. That wiU be difficult. 

We frequently find the substantive, that is really the 



44 SUBJECT REPRESENTED BY THE DEFINITIVE. 

subject of the sentence, detached from its definitive and 
transferred to the predicate ; and this occurs more espe- 
cially when it is defined by a genitive case. We say, for 
instance, " the general's is a handsome horse," or, *' the 
general's horse is handsome ;" the two expressions being 
perfectly equivalent. But as the genitive case of our per- 
sonal pronouns will not admit a substantive after it, when 
such a case is employed to represent the subject, the 
ellipsis cannot be supplied. In such sentences as *' mine is 
a difficult task," " i/ours is a pretty desk," *' ours is a 
thankless office," we cannot insert the subject that is really 
the nominative case of the verb ; but in construing such a 
proposition, the pupil will say that the nominative case 
is understood ; for he will see, that as the definitive is 
in the genitive case, it cannot possibly be the nominative 
also, and it is indispensable that every predicating verb 
have a nominative case expressed or understood. 

In sentences asserting what the subject is, instead of 
repeating the substantive, the numeral one is often employed 
in the predicate, and which, although the especial repre- 
sentative of unity, in sentences where the subject is in the 
plural number, assumes the plural form and becomes ones, 

Ex. : My task is a diflScult (me. These books are not the right 



Lesson 42. — Write twenty sentences in which the real 
subject stands in the predicate, the genitive case by which 
it is defined preceding the verb ; or if the subject precede 
the verb, let it be represented in the predicate by the term 
one. 

Ex. : Yours was a lame excuse. The answer is a clever one. 



SECTION III. 
PROGRESSING (incomplete) ACTION. 

The verb to be is called, by grammarians, the Sub- 
stantive Verb ; T h e V e r b par excellence. It ex- 
presses the most general of all attributes, that of mere 
existence : I am ; that is, I exist. 



PROGRESSING ACTION. 45 

When we would characterize an object by its state or 
quality, rather than by its actions, the verb to he serves at 
once as the vehicle of assertion and as the medium of com- 
bining the subject and attribute in one thought and sen- 
tence ; and, from its frequent use as the connecting link 
between two ideas thus correlative, it has been called the 
Grand Copula. 

When we would assert of an object what it does, we 
employ a verb which expresses both the assertion and the 
attribute. Such verbs, combining in themselves the attri- 
bute of existence, with that of the action which they 
affirm, have been called Adjective Verbs. They show by 
inflections of the verb itself, and the auxiliaries of tense 
and mood, those relations of the predicate to the subject, 
which, in sentences predicating a state of the subject, are 
expressed by the substantive verb to he and the auxiliaries. 

The theory of a substantive verb existing in the 
adjective verbs, which has been before alluded to, 
has been fully developed and reduced to practice 
in the English language, for we habitually use a 
form of expression, in which the attributes of exist- 
ence and action are kept perfectly distinct ; and this 
form is constantly employed in speaking of an object 
engaged in, or performing, an incomplete act. It is 
in this way that we form our Imperfect Tense; but 
instead of being restricted to a single one, as in other 
languages, we can express incomplete or progressing 
action in all our tenses. I am not not aware that this 
manner of employing the verb has any generally 
recognised name. One has called it the Induring 
verb, and others have given it names according to 
their fancies : it might, perhaps, be regarded as a 
distinct voice of the verb. It describes the subject as 
engaged in progressing action; and is formed by 
adding to the substantive verb to be, through all its 
moods and tenses, a form called the Active Parti- 
ciple of the adjective verb, which expresses the 
attribute of the action predicated of the subject. This 
mode of expression, so familiar to us, is not found in 
any other language of which I have any knowledge. 



46 PROGRESSITE ACTION. 

except when employed by grammarians to illustrate 
the doctrine of a substantive verb and adjective verbs; 
a doctrine that is readily comprehended by an 
Englishman. The following are instances of this 
form of expression. 

I am tcritmg. The boys have been skaiting. The moon is 
rising. The sun is setting. It has been rai?mig. Papa will 
be waiting. A savage dog is barking. The foolish sailor has 
been drinking. 

This form of the verb requires no further explanation at 
present, unless it be to remark that the future tense, when 
thus expressed, is commonly a relative tense, referring to 
some other event. Thus the sentence, "^ I shall be 
writing/' naturally suggests the question, ^^when?" and 
requires some circumstance of time to be mentioned to 
which it has reference. 

EXERCISE. 

Lesson 43. — Write twenty sentences, in which the verb 
to he, in the present or perfect tense, serves as the medium 
of assertion, the attribute being expressed by the active 
participle of an adjective verb. 

Ex. : The happy scholars are singing. We have been roioing. 

Partici'ples are so named from participating the 
functions both of an adjective and a verb. In the 
former character they are very commonly used to 
define substantives. 

Ex.: A blazing fire is cheerful. Boiling water scalds. The 
nettle is a stinging weed. Running streams are clear. The 
apple is a refreshing fruit. An aching tooth torments. 

Participles, like adjectives, agree in number, gender, and 
case, with the substantives which they define, and in most 
languages they show these concords by varying termi- 
nations. Sometimes they become pure adjectives, not 
expressing action, but rather defining the object by some 
capability of action. Thus, in the phrase, '^ a singing 
bird," singing does not necessarily convey the idea that 
the bird is warbling; but ^* a bird singing" expresses 
action : in the first instance, " singing," noting a quality, 
is an adjective ; in the second, expressing action, it is a 
participle. So again it may be, that many a stinging 



COMPLEMENT OF VERBS. 47 

insect never stings at all. As adjectives, words of this 
class receive a negative meaning from a prefixed syllable, a 
construction of which very few verbs admit : as, an un- 
ceasing sound ; W72tiring diligence ; that zmfeeling wretch ; 
an wwwilling witness. The question, whether a word, in 
certain cases, be really an adjective or a participle, is of 
little moment in English ; and would not have been 
adverted to here, had it not been to notice a curious dis- 
tinction that exists in the French language, where the 
active participle, usedadjectively, is regarded as an adjective, 
and varies to show its accord in gender and number with 
the substantive; but used, as a participle, to express action, 
it is indeclinable, and remains unchanged. A clear per- 
ception of grammatical principles removes at once the 
difficulty which this peculiarity presents, a peculiarity that 
is a frequent stumblingblock in the way of the ignorant. 

EXEKCISE. 

Lesson 44. — Write twenty sentences, in which the sub- 
ject is defined by the active participle, thus used as an 
adjective. 

Ex.: Curling locks are pretty. Alarming intelligence has 
arrived. 



SECTION IV. 
COmPIiEMENT OF VERBS. 

In all the examples hitherto given of sentences con- 
taining adjective verbs, a perfect thought has been 
expressed, the action predicated of the subject having 
no relation to any other object. 

A large proportion, however, of the actions which 
we assert of a subject are considered as affecting more 
or less directly some other object; and, in order to 
convey fully our meanings when we attribute such an 
action to the subject, we are obliged to name the 
object to which it has reference. Let us take, for 
instance, the verb to close : " the servant closes. " 
Here we have subject, verb, and attribute, yet remain 



48 COMPLEMEJsT OF YERBS. 

in suspense as to the real nature of tlie action, and 
naturally ask, closes what ? the door ? a knife ? his 
eyes? his mouth? his purse? or figuratively, his ears? 
So again, the woman makes — what? a pudding, an 
excuse, a curtsy, a fuss, &c. The boy catches — a 
fish, a ball, a cold, a flogging, &c. In sentences like 
these the sense remains suspended until the object 
afl'ected by the action is named, and through this 
power of modifying the meaning of the verb by a 
following substantive, we are able, with a compara- 
tively limited number of verbs, to express intelligibly 
all the impressions of our minds, as to the actions of 
the innumerable objects that occupy our thoughts. 
Verbs, which thus take after them the name of an 
object afiected by the action predicated of the subject, 
are called Active Verbs; whilst those verbs, 
which attribute to the subject actions having no 
relation to any other object, are called Neuter 
Verbs. 

Active and neuter verbs have, also been named, the former 
Transitive, because the action passes over to an object; 
the latter Intransitive, the action affecting only the 
subject from which it proceeds. 

Transitive, Active, or Governing Verbs, may 
be divided into two classes, according to the manner 
in which they effect their government. 

1 . Verbs which exercise a direct government over 
the following substantives : — 

E.r. : The dog has killed a rat. The children are making a 
noise. The soldier wears a sword. The smith shoes the 
horses. A liar hates truth. I have been reading the bible. 
A clever governess instructs my uncle's dax(,ghters. A 
favouring wind fills the swelling sails. The barn contains 
much corn. 

The substantive, which, by completing the sense, 
forms the complement of each of the above verbs, 
stands in what is called the Accusative Case; 
where, as in all other positions, its range or signifi- 
cation may be more accurately determined by adAi- 



COMPLEMENT OF VERBS. 49 

tionSf as seen in the last three examples. The subject 
of the verb stands, then, in the Nomina^tive Case, 
the complement of the verb in the Accusative Case. 
It is a rule of Syntax, that '' Transitive Verbs govern 
an Accusative Case''' 

EXERCISE. 

Lesson 45. — Write twenty sentences, defining the 
subject of each by some addition, and employing in the 
predicate a transitive verb with a direct complement ; and 
take care to underline both the addition defining the 
subject and the substantive forming the complement of 
verb. 

Ex.: The 2c?Ze scholar deserves _p^m^s7^mew^. The farmer's dog 
caught a rahbit. 

Lesson 46. — Write twenty sentences, asserting that the 
subject possesses something, and define each complement 
by an adjective or other definitive, underlined as before. 
Ex. : You have 2^ pretty book. The horse has a jiowing mane. 

Lesson 47. — Write twenty sentences in which the pre- 
dicate, in the perfect tense, is completed by a substantive, 
defined by another substantive in the Genitive Case. 
Ex. : A thief has stolen the merchant's watch. 

2. In the second class of Transitive Verbs are 
reckoned those which exercise their government 
indirecthj through one of a peculiar class of words 
called Prepositions. 

Ex. : The Christian meditates on death. A fool delights wi 
mischief. The Jew abstains /romj!?orA-. The scholars long 
for a holyday. The captain trusts to the anchor. The 
patient confides in the x>hysician. The boy caught at the 
ball. The soldier dreams of victory. 

In these sentences the substantive that forms the 
complement of the verb is also in the accusative case, 
but it is considered, grammatically, to be governed in 
that case by the preposition which precedes it. In 
EngKsh " ALL prepositions govern an accusative 
case,'' 

Prepositions are said to have expressed originally rela- 
tions of place only, but they are now employed to express 

D 



50 



COMPLEMENT OF VEKBS. 



various other 


relations. The 


following 


are the princij 


prepositions : - 


- 






above 


below 


in 


throughout 


about 


beneath. 


into 


tiU 


across 


beside 


near 


to 


after 


between 


of 


towards 


against 


betwixt 


oif 


upon 


along 


beyond 


on 


until 


amid(st) 


by 


out 


unto 


aniong(st) 


down 


oyer 


under 


around 


during 


round 


underneath 


at 


except 


save 


with 


before 


for 


since 


within 


behind 


from 


through 


without 



Of the above, "except" and "save," if strictly analysed, 
are unquestionably verbs in the imperative mood ; but as 
they are comm.only classed among prepositions, they have 
been ranked with them here. 

Many verbs, which, standing by themselves, are neuter, 
exercise an indirect government through a preposition ; as 
in the last of the above examples. To dream is a neuter 
verb, and cannot be followed by an accusative case ; but if 
the preposition of or about be added, it becomes at once 
susceptible of a complement ; and so of many other neuter 
verbs. On the other hand, many transitive verbs that 
exercise a direct government are frequently used without 
a complement, and are consequently in such expressions 
intransitive. 



Lesson 48. — Write twenty sentences, in which a sub- 
stantive with a preposition forms an indirect complement 
to the verb. 

The lawyer is speaking to his 



Ea;. : The bull ran after the hoy. 
client. 



Lesson 49. — Write twenty sentences with indirect com- 
plements to the verbs, the subject being defined by a 
Substantive in the Genitive Case. 

Ex. : The butcher's dog barks at the beggar. 

The English language, formed from two distinct tongues 
(the Saxon, and the Latin, through the medium of the 
French), is very rich in words, comprising nearly the 
entire vocabularies of both those idioms^ besides many 



COMPLEMEIS'T OE TEE.ES. 51 

terms derived from more remote sources. We have thus 
very commonly two or even more verbs expressive of the 
same action : the one a concrete word (mostly from a 
Latin root, and frequently containing a prefia:ed -preipositioii) , 
governing- its complement directly ; the other a verb (com- 
monly from a Saxon root) folloived by a preposition^ and so 
effecting its government indirectly. The master " speaks 
to" his servant, is equivalent to the master "addresses" 
his servant. The lady " goes info " the house, expresses 
precisely the same action as the lady "enters" the house. 
So the charitable man "feels for" the poor, is, in mean- 
ing, identical with the charitable man " commiserates " the 
poor. Could we regard the preposition thus following as 
a component part of the verb, the complement might then 
be considered as governed directly by the compound verb. 

There is, in English, a very common method of defining 
a substantive by prefixing another substantive that might 
form the complement of a verb expressing the action for 
which the defined object is employed or designed. Thus, 
if a ship carries timber, it is called a ^zmSer-ship. So if a 
mill makes powder or grinds corn, it is a, powder-iaiW, or a 
corn-mill. Again, appellative substantives, formed from- 
verbs, and indicating acting things, whether animate or 
inanimate, are frequently defined by a complement of the 
verb from which they are derived. For example, one who 
drinks beer is a Je-er- drinker ; and harness -mdker, turnip- 
cutter, raw^-cracker, glass-hlow^r, &z>c?-catcher, are instances 
of compound words similarly formed. Sometimes such 
terms are written as a concrete word, as bricklayer, house- 
keeper ; but where custom does not sanction this, the 
scholar will do well to connect the two words by a hyphen. 
When one substantive is thus used adjectively to deter- 
mine another, the two form together. a compound term, 
serving to designate a subordinate class of the objects 
named by the general appellative that forms the second 
member of the term. Thus a timher-^liv^ does not mean a 
wooden ship ; nor can the word timber be here regarded as 
an adjective, for the adjective, considered with reference to 
grammar as a science, must agree in number and gender 
with the substantive to which it is joined ; and though we 
might perhaps say that here timber agrees with ship in the 
singular number and neuter gender^ vet, would \ve speak 

' D 2 ■ 



52 COMPLEMENT OF VERBS. 

of timber- ships, we could not imagine the definitive timber 
changing its number and becoming plural. In the term. 
breeches-msiker *' breeches " is a plural noun of the neuter 
gender, and cannot therefore agree with ** maker," a sin- 
gular noun of either the masculine or feminine gender. 
Did our adjective vary in form to agree in number with its 
noun, we should at once recognize the substantive character 
of this kind of definitive, and the necessity for connecting 
the two terms by a hyphen ; as the pupil will quickly do, 
who is sufficiently advanced in the study of another language 
to attempt their translation. By regarding such expressions 
as compound substantives, we shall avoid the two grammatical 
solecisms, of adjectives not according with their substan- 
tives ; and of substantives without case, and consequently 
neither governing nor governed. 

EXERCISE. 

Lesson 50. — Try to recollect fifty compound substan- 
tives in which the definitive might be made the complement 
of a verb predicating of the other substantive ; and take 
care to connect the two by a hyphen. 

Ex. : A cherry-orchard. A coal-brig. A flower-garden. A 
stone-cart. A vinegar-cruet. A paper-knife. 

Here we might say, the orchard produces cherries, the 
brig carries coal, &c. 

Lesson 51. — Write fifty appellative substantives formed 
from verbs, and each defined by a substantive that may be 
regarded as the complement of the verb ; and connect 
them by a hyphen as before. 

Ex. : A fox-hunter. A carpet- weaver. A bilhard-player. 
A letter-A\Titer. A wine-cooler. 



SECTION V. 

PROMOMINAI. COMPI.BBIBNT O F: 
VERBS. 

When the action is predicated as affecting the 
speaker, the person spoken to, or a person or thing 
already spoken of, the complement of the jrerb is ex- 



PRONOMINAL COMPLEMENT OF VERBS. 53 

pressed by the appropriate personal pronoun. But 
the personal pronouns diiFer from substantives, in 
this, that they have, with two exceptions, a distinct 
form for the accusative case ; the exceptions are, the 
second person plural and the third person singular 
of the neuter gender. 

The accusative cases of the personal pronouns are 
as follow : — 

Si7igidar. Plural. 

1st person . me ijs 

2nd person thee vou 

3rd person . . . masculine him "1 

feminine her > them 

neuter it J 

These forms are used whether the pronoun be 
governed by a verb or by a preposition. 

Ex. : The sh.oe pinches me. Thy master praises thee. A man 
calls him. The dog sees her. The cat eats it. These books 
please us. The lady expects you. The horse fears them. 
A coach waits for me. The boy stares at thee. The kitten 
goes to him. The bee flies from her. The mouse runs under 
it. The beggar comes after us. They speak to yoti. I feel 
for them. 

EXERCISE. 

Lesson 52. — Write twenty sentences with transitive 
verbs in the Perfect Indefinite Tense, having for direct 
complement the accusative cases of the respective personal 
pronouns in both numbers. 
Ex. : John struck me. 

Lesson 53. — Write twenty sentences having, as indirect 
complement to the verbs, the accusative case, preceded by 
a preposition, of the respective personal pronouns. 
Ex. : The colonel will speak /or me. 



SECTION VI. 

REFLBCTED ACTION. 

It sometimes happens that action is asserted as affect- 
ing the subject from which it proceeds ; or, in other 



54 HEFLECTED ACTION. 

words, tliat we speak of a thing as acting upon itself. 
As tlie subject must be either the speaker, the person 
addressed, or some other person or thing spoken of, 
the complement of the verb is, in such cases, formed 
by combining the possessive pronouns of the iirst and 
second persons, and the accusative case of the personal 
pronouns of the third person, with the word " self,''' 
which; in the plural, changes into " selves.''^ 

Ex,: I hurt myself. Thou flatterest thyself. The coward 
betrays himself. The girl adorns herself. The badger de- 
fends itself We arm ourselves. You deceive yourselves. The 
boys amuse themselves. 

1 answer for mjjself Thou thinkest of thi/self He quar- 
rels toith himself. The bride looks at herself. Sorrow feeds 
upon itself. We confide in ourselves. You differ among 
yourselves. His actions speak /or themselves. 

EXERCISE. 

Lesson 54. — Write twenty-four sentences, employing, 
as complements to the verbs, the above reflected form 
of the pronouns, in all the three persons, and in both 
numbers. 

Ex. : I flatter myself. 

This form of the pronoun is frequently used em- 
phatically ; it is then of the same case as the word to 
which it is joined. 

Ex. : I saw it myself ; or, I myself saw it. Thou art thyself 
culpable. The general himself commanded. You yourselves 
promised. We saw the master himself, i ;,< - vj j; j 

We sometimes speak of several objects as engaged 
in mutual or reciprocal action, so that a thing is the 
subject of its own action, and the object of that of 
its companion or antagonist. In this case the actors 
are represented by putting the subject, where it can 
be done, in the plural number (the verb, of necessity, 
being in the plural), and the idea of them, as objects 
of the action, is expressed by using, as complement of 
the verb, the words " each other," " one another." 



Ex. : Friends assist each other. Dogs worry oi 



le anoitier. 



REFLECTED ACTION. 55 

In a simple sentence containing a transitive verb, the 
complement commonly follows the verb, except it be that 
either the subject or complement, or both, are expressed by 
a personal pronoun, when this order is frequently inverted, 
especially in an animated style, or in poetry ; the comple- 
ment preceding the verb, and even the subject. This 
peculiarity of construction arises from our pronouns having 
distinct forms for the nominative and accusative cases, so 
that a hearer instantly feels whether the objects indicated 
by them are spoken of as acting beings or as things acted 
upon. 

Ex. : Him. has she chosen. Us they reject. 3Ie you blame. 
Flattery I detest. These terms we accept. This he denies. 

When both subject and complement are expressed by 
substantives this arrangement of the words is not often 
adopted, except it be in sentences whose meaning is inca- 
pable of perversion, as in "The dog the beggar bit;" or, 
** Fairy Mab the junkets ate," where mistake is impossible. 
But when each object is competent to the action expressed 
by the verb, our substantive having no distinctive form for 
the accusative case, this arrangement of the words leads at 
once to uncertainty ; as is the case also with the pronoun of 
the second person plural, which has the nominative and accu- 
sative cases alike. Thus, were I to say " You your parents 
love/' either party might be subject or complement ; but, 
take the pronoun of the first person, and the meaning can- 
not be mistaken, "We our parents love," or, " Us our 
parents love." Here the form of the pronoun prevents all 
ambiguity. 

The often- quoted verse — 

"And thus the son the fervent sira addressed," 

is a notable instance of the uncertainty produced by this 
order of the words ; for it is quite impossible to decide, 
from the line itself, whether the father or the son is the 
speaker. In the Latin, where the accusative case is marked 
by a peculiar termination, the complement generally pre- 
cedes the verb. 



56 DOUBLE COMPLEMENT OF VERBS. 

SECTION VII. 
DOUBZ.S COMPI.EMEKT OF VBRBS. 

We frequently carry the judgment wliicli we assert 
of the subject beyond the object forming the direct 
complement of the verb to some other object, to whose 
loss or gain, detriment or advantage, we affirm that 
the action tends ; and then it is necessary that the 
verb be followed by tioo substantives (or pronouns, 
standing for substantives) indicating these two objects. 

Ex. : The lady gave the beggar a penny. The postman has 
brought me a letter. The master is teaching the boys geo- 
graphy. The farmer will send his landlord a hare The groom 
will lend you a bridle. The mother has made the children a 
pudding. Her brother will buy her a doll. The stranger 
told us a laughable story. The wine did the patient good. 

In sentences hke these the verb is said to govern 
tivo accusatives : one of the person, another of the 
thing; the acquiring object, even though an irra- 
tional thing, or an abstraction, being here considered 
grammatically as a person. 

This faculty of giving a douj e complement to verbs has 
a much wider range in English than in other languages, 
and is indeed sometimes pushed by us beyond reasonable 
limits. It will be observed that, in the examples just 
given, the accusative of the person precedes the direct 
accusative, that of the thing. If this order be inverted, we 
see at once that the accusative of the thing is the direct 
complement of the verb, while the accusative of the person, 
as an indirect complement, then requires that its relation be 
shown by a preposition : as, the lady gave a penny to the 
heggar ; the mother has made a pudding /or the children. 
"We sometimes find a verb followed by two direct comple- 
ments, where it would be better if the complement of the 
person were connected indirectly by a preposition. From 
such an expression as ''I wrote her a note," it cannot be 
determined whether the note was written to her or for her. 
The familiar expression, presenting with, as, " She pre- 
sented him with a nosegay," is a Latinism, for the verb to 
present is essentiafly transitive, governing its complement 



DOUBLE COMPLEMENT OF VERBS. O / 

directly ; but, in the above form^ the accusative of the per- 
son must be regarded as the direct complement. 

In sentences like those of which v/e are now treating, 
the desire to be laconic frequently leads us to form verbs 
analogically from the direct complement. Thus, instead of 
saying " The patient hands the physician a fee," we say, 
"The patient /ee-s the physician;" for *' The master fur- 
nishes the scholars a dinner," "The master dines the boys ;" 
and so of others, thus changing the indirect complement 
of the original verb into a direct complement of the newly- 
formed one. 



Lesson 55. — Write sentences with the following verbs, 
giving to each two complements, and placing that of the 
person first. 

Give, bring, present, throw, carry, make, lend, teach, write, 
buy, ask, let, play, show, order, promise, deny, refuse, 
provide. 

Ex. : The master will give the scholars a hohjday. 

Lesson 56. — Write twenty sentences, reversing the 
order of the complements, so that that of the person will 
require to be preceded by an appropriate preposition. 

Ex. : The surgeon ordered a bath /or the patient. 

In familiar style, where the direct complement, or the 
accusative of the thing, is expressed by the pronoun " it/' 
we sometimes find the indirect complement, without a pre- 
position, occupying the second place : as, he gave it me ; 
the keeper showed it us ; John told it his brother. This 
form of expression is not to be recommended : the prepo- 
sition should always be supplied. 

Observe. — There are in English some few verbs 
that really govern two direct accusatives^ and such 
verbs must necessarily have the same government in 
every language ; but then these accusatives will both 
indicate the same object, though the latter one will 
exhibit it in some peculiar character. 

Ex. : The queen created 7ier favourite a peer. The senate ap- 
pointed Camillus dictator. He calls you a dunce. The com- 
mittee have elected the colonel chairman. The parents will 
name the child George. The master has made me monitor. 

1)5 



58 COMPLEMENT OF ADJECTIVES. 

SECTION VIII. 

COMPL.EMEHT OF ADJECTIVES. 

Certain qualities can only exist in one object refe- 
rentially to other objects. Inclination, aversion, 
'proximity, distance, likeness, dissimilarity. Sec, are 
qualities of this description ; and when such are pre- 
dicated of a subject, the adjectives by which they are 
expressed require, to be followed by a phrase indicating 
some object to which they relate, before we obtain a 
clear comprehension of their value. 

Er. : Exercise is conducive to health. Sleep is similar to 
death. The bridge is close to the prison. JSIan is liable to 
error. A fool is prone to mischief. Youth, is averse to study. 
The governor is aware of the 2}lot. An astronomer is con- 
A'ersant icitJt the stars. Air is essential to life. 

In those languages whose substantives assume various 
forms or cases, the adjectives which thus express an incom- 
plete idea require that the substantive serving to complete 
their sense should stand in some particular case, and thus 
show its relation to the adjective. But as the various re- 
lations of our substantives, with the exception of the geni- 
tive case, are shown by prepositions, instead of by inflection 
of the substantive itself, adjectives which thus express an 
incomplete sense require the substantive that forms their 
complement to be preceded by some jpart'icular preposition, 
the equivalent of the termination of case in other languages ; 
and from the influence thus exercised they are called 
Governing Adjectives ; the substantive that, with the 
preposition, serves to complete the sense forming the 
Complement of such an adjective. 

Like, unlike, near, niyli, which take after them a substan- 
tive with the preposition " to," are frequently found fol- 
lowed by a substantive without the preposition, which may, 
however, always be supplied. When near, nigh, are found 
without a preposition, they may be themselves regarded as 
prepositions, as in Latin. 

EXERCISE. 

Lesson 57. — Form sentences, employing in the predi- 
cate of each successively one of the following adjec- 



compleme:nt or adjectives. 59 

tives, completed by a substantive with the appropriate 
preposition. 

Rid, desirous, close, similar, dissimilax, proYOcative, like, 
unlike, averse, liable, conducive, prone, aware, eager, fit, 
unfit, responsible, attributable, intent, conscious. 

Ex. : The landlord is rid of a troublesome guest. 

Many qualities may be predicated absolutely of a 
subject, as, " the man is ignorant;" but as the judg- 
ments which we form are more frequently qualified 
than general, in order to express them accurately it is 
often necessary to limit the range of the adjective, 
and this is accomplished, as withxhose adjectives that 
always require a complement, by adding a substantive 
preceded by an appropriate preposition. 

Ex. : The idiot is destitute of reason. The labourer is worthy 
of /m hire. Peace is favourable to the arts. The selfish are 
incapable of gratitude. 



Lesson 58. — Write sentences, containing in the pre- 
dicates each of the following adjectives, with an appropriate 
complement. 

Hurtful, congenial, destitute, pleasant, agreeable, reckless, 
careless, heedful, unworthy, advantageous, remarkable, 
productive, adverse, dangerous, apt, innocent, guilty, 
injurious, fatal, descriptive, full, 

Ex. : Frost is hurtful to many plants. 

When we would define a substantive by an adjective 
with its complement, the entire definitive phrase should 
follow the word determined. Thus we say, " an action 
worthy of praise y" "a soil incapable of cultivation," and 
not " a worthy action of praise," &c. Expressions may 
be found in which this rule is disregarded : as, " a fit man 
for the purpose," " a proper place for a camp :" but we 
must be careful not to hide the relation by separating 
words so intimately connected in sense. We should place 
the substantive first, and say, a man fit for the purpose ; a 
place proper for a camp. 

We have some few compound adjectives formed by pre- 
fixing to a governing adjective, a substantive that forms 
its complement. Thus a thing proof against fire is called 



60 ATTRIBUTE EXPRESSED BY A SUBSTANTIVE, 

^re-proof; goods free from toll are toll-free; a vassel im- 
pervious to air is air-tight, &c. Such compound adjectives 
should always be connected by a hyphen, to avoid the 
grammatical anomaly of substantives isolated and without 
case. 



section ix. 

the: attribute bxfressed bv a 
substantive. 

We have seen that those words which, of them- 
selves, describe hoio a thing is, are adjectives. It is 
not at all uncommon however to find, in sentences 
predicating simply how the subject is, the state or 
attribute expressed by a substantive with a preposi- 
tion. Such a phrase is so exactly equivalent to an 
adjective, that it is often quite indifferent which form 
of expression is used. 

Ex. : You are in fault = culpable. The stranger is without a 
penny =penniless. The captain is in difficulties = embar- 
rassed. A liar is beneath contempt. The spirits are above 
proof. The oxen were in excellent condition = fat. The 
governor is on his guard = vigilant. The town is in great 
danger. The patient is at the point of death. 

EXERCISE. 

Lesson 59. — "Write twenty sentences, expressing in 
each by a substantive with a preposition how the subject 
is ; and determine the substantive in the predicate by some 
addition, as in the last four of the above examples. 
Ex. : My aunt is in good health. 



SECTION X. 

THE PASSIVE VOICE OF VERBS. 

Transitive verbs, as we have seen, govern an accu- 
sative case ; that is, they are followed by a substantive 
or a pronoun indicating the object on which the action 



PASSIVE VOICE OF VERBS. 61 

expressed by the verbs falls. Thus, in *^ Csesar con- 
quered Gaul," the action expressed by the verb 
"conquered" is not fully understood till the object 
affected by the conquering is mentioned. " Gaul " is 
the object that experiences or suffers the action of the 
verb " conquered," and forms therefore its comple- 
ment or regimen. 

But it often happens that we would speak of the 
thing affected by the action, rather than of the actor ; 
and in this case the substantive or pronoun forming 
the complement of a transitive verb, becomes the 
subject of the proposition : thus, " Gaul was con- 
quered by Caesar." When the thing that suffers the 
action is thus presented as the subject of the sen- 
tence, the predicate is expressed by what grammarians 
call the Passive Voice of the verb. 

The Passive Voice, then, is that form of the verb 
in which the subject or nominative is represented 
as suffering the action of the verb. In the Greek and 
Latin this relation is indicated by a series of pecuhar 
inflections in the verb, a form of expression unknown 
in modern languages, which convey by a different 
method the idea of an object thus conceived as acted 
upon. This consists in employing, as the medium of 
assertion, the substantive verb to be through all its 
moods and tenses, and expressing the attribute of the 
action suffered by a peculiar form, called the (Passive 
or) Perfect Participle of the adjective verb. The 
ordinary form of the verb, in which the subject is 
represented as the acting thing, is called the Active 
Voice. 

Almost every verb, which in the active voice takes 
a direct complement, can be thus expressed in the 
passive voice ; the complement or accusative of the 
active becoming the subject or nominative of the pas- 
sive voice ; and the words pointing out the actor, when 
we wish to show from what object the action proceeds, 
being governed in the accusative case by the preposi- 
tion "by." 



62 PASSIVE VOICE OF VERBS. 

Ex. : Gaul was conquered by Caesar. The anchor has been 
weighed by the crew. The cat is hunted by the dog. The 
bridge will be repaired by the masons. The meadows are 
overflowed. Idle scholars are punished by the master. A 
stoat has been killed by the terrier. The poor are relieved by 
the benevolent. The top of the mast can be seen. Grammar 
may be learnt by a child. Your messenger may have been 
detained. 



Lesson 60. — Take the sentences, which you have written 
as exercises under Sections IV. and V. of this chapter, 
containing direct complements to the verb, and express 
them with the verb in the passive voice, if you find that 
they can be so expressed with propriety ; taking care to 
underline the verb. 

Ex. : A rat has been killed by the dog. Thou toilt be 2>raised by 
thy master. 

Lesson 61. — Write twenty sentences, asserting historical 
facts, the verbs being in the passive voice. 

Ex. : The sun-dial was invented by the Egyptians. America 
was discovered by Columbus. Potatoes were introduced 
into Europe from America. 

Perfect participles are extensively employed as 
-definitives to determine a substantive, with which 
they agree in number, gender, and case. 

Ex. : A sjjoilt child is troublesome. A broken glass is useless. 
Hamraered iron is flexible. The wounded hare screams. A 
boiled lobster is red. The Poles are an oppressed people. 
The secretary is a paid officer. 

As the action expressed by neuter verbs is confined to 
the subject of which it is predicated, and does not pass over 
to another object, the perfect participles of such verbs 
cannot commonly be used to define a substantive, for no 
object is affected by them. There are, however, some 
few instances in which we find a substantive defined by the 
perfect participle of a neuter verb expressing some action 
of the defined object itself: as, a learned man, ^fallen foe, 
an expired lease. The passive like the active participle 
takes a prefixed negative syllable ; as Mwslacked lime, un- 
known regions, an wwfledged sparrow. 



PASSIVE VOICE OF VERBS. 63 

EXERCISE. 

Lesson 62. — Write twenty sentences, in each of which 
a substantive is defined by a passive participle. 

Ex.: The shorn sheep are cold. Ice i^froze^i water. 

Lesson 63. — Write twenty sentences, in each of which 
a substantive is defined by a participle with a negative 
prefix. 

Eo". : The woman bought some t</ibleached linen. Un\)MXJ\.t 
bricks are soft. 

"We now come to a remarkable peculiarity of our 
language^ that of employing in the passive voice 
Terbs that, used actively, govern their complements 
indirectly through a preposition. It may be held, as 
a grammatical maxim, that those verbs only can be 
rendered in the passive voice which, in the active 
voice, govern directly an accusative case ; but, as we 
shall see, such a rule does not exist in English. 

Ex. : The pilot toas appealed to by the captain. The beggar 
has been taken up by the constable. The servant was spoken 
to by her mistress. The juggler is stared at by the crowd. 
The trick toas seen through by the stranger. The absent 
soldier is thought of by his mother. The horse has 7iot been 
looked after by the groom. 

EXERCISE. 

Lesson 64. — Write twenty sentences, using, in the 
passive voice, verbs that, actively, govern their complements 
indirectly through prepositions. 

Ex. : A child has been run over by a gentleman's carriage. 

In some few familiar expressions are found instances of 
the passive participles of verbs exercising an indirect 
government, used as additions to define a substantive : the 
talked-of marriage ; the wished-for event ; unlooked-for 
succour, &c. V/e must be careful to connect such terms 
by a hyphen, and so form a compound word, or the defined 
substantive might otherwise be supposed to be governed 
by the preposition. 

As before suggested, if the preposition by means of which 
the verb in the active voice effects indirectly its govern- 
ment were regarded, as a component part of the verb, in 



64 PASSIVE VOICE OF VERBS. 

the same way as a prefixed preposition is, the complement 
might then be considered as governed directly by the com-^ 
pound verb. "When verbs employed passively require that 
their participle be accompanied by the preposition, the 
latter must be regarded as a portion of the verb, for it 
follows the participle wherever it occurs, is essential to its 
meaning, and cannot indeed be here looked upon as a 
preposition, or we should have this class of words without a 
case, either expressed or understood, a construction that 
cannot occur. 

To this manner of employing our verbs is attributable 
the infrequency of indefinite pronouns in English. In the 
French, German, &c., the English student marvels at the 
frequent recurrence of an indefinite term equivalent to our 
one, they, people, folks, &c., standing as the subject of the 
sentence, a form of expression that is almost always used, 
even with transitive verbs, when a fact is to be intimated 
generally, and without any particular reference to the source 
whence it proceeds. But in English, instead of employing 
the verb actively in such an expression as, " they have 
promised me a commission in the army," we take either 
complement of the active verb as the subject of the same 
verb in the passive voice, and say, indiff"erently, " I have 
been promised a commission in the army," or, "a com- 
mission in the army has been promised me." So instead 
of saying that the captain, or any one else, appealed to the 
pilot, if we merely wish to intimate the fact, that the latter 
was consulted, we employ the passive voice, and say the 
pilot was appealed to: the preposition which governed the 
indirect complement in the active voice accompanying 
the participle, and completing its meaning in the passive. 
It is not, however, customary to connect by a hyphen the 
participle and preposition when thus employed, and so to 
form a compound word, as we are permitted to do in the 
few instances in which the two are used together to define 
a substantive. 

"With those verbs that govern actively two accusatives, 
it sometimes happens that either complement may be the 
subject of the verb in the passive voice, as in the above 
sentence about the commission. Thus also the sentence, 
" a Parisian taught me French," might be rendered by the 
passive voice of the verb with either complement for 



PASSIVE \v.:Caii or -verbs. 65 

subject: I was taught French, or, French was taught 
me by a Parisian. In other instances only the direct com- 
plement can be thus employed. It would sound awkwardly 
were we to say, " the landlord was sent a hare by the 
farmer," though we might employ the hare as the subject, 
and form an unexceptionable sentence. We are too apt to 
employ the verb in the passive voice, even in cases where 
the expression would be better rendered actively; but, 
with a little care, the taste and judgment of the scholar 
will guard him against faulty constructions of this kind. 

In the same manner that in tlie active voice we can: 
assert impe?fect or progressing action ; in two tenses 
of the passive voice we can predicate continuing or 
incomplete suffering of the subject. 

Ex. : The boys are being drilled by an old soldier. The town 
^oas being fortified by the captors. He is being shaved. Our 
luggage was being searched. 

In propositions like these, however, we very commonly 
use the progressing form of the active voice ; thus repre- 
senting the suffering, as the acting, thing. For instance, 
instead of saying, " the dinner is being cooked," I say, 
" the dinner is cooking:" instead of, "a church was being^ 
built,'" " a church was building." Such expressions neither 
offend our notions of propriety, nor cause any uncertainty 
as to the true meaning of the speaker, when employed of a 
subject incapable of the action predicated ; but if used of a 
subject capable of such action, this form would then convey 
the idea of action and not of suffering. I am shaving, or 
I was shaving, are propositions very different from I am 
being shaved, or I luas being shaved. This peculiarity of 
our verb, employed actively in a passive sense, will be 
again adverted to. 



SECTION XI. 

CIRCUMSTANCES OP THE ACTION. 
ADVERBS. 

In predicating of a subject, we frequently limit, 
explain, or otherwise modify, the assertion, by the 



66 TIME OF THE ACTION. 

introduction of various collateral incidents, as the 
time, place, manner, and other matters, called 
the Circumstances of the action. 

These incidents may be divided into four classes. 

1. Circumstances of Time, 

2. Circumstances of Place. 

3. Circumstances of Manner. 

4. Circumstances of Origin. 

Let us now proceed to consider, more in detail, the 
various circumstances of the predicate, taking them 
in the order just enumerated. 



SECTION xn. 

TIMS OF TKE ACTION. 

We have already seen that the verb, by certain 
changes, called Tenses, expresses various relations as 
to the time of an action. But it is frequently de- 
sirable to mark this time more closely than could 
possibly be done by inflections of the verb : and these 
more precise indications of the time of an action are 
called Circumstances of Time. 

We can distinguish three circumstances of time. 

1. The Point of Time; answering to the question 
when ? 

2. The Duration of Time; answering to the 
question hoio long ? 

3. The Number of Times; answering to the 
question hoiv often ? 

Circumstances of time of the first two classes are 
expressed in two ways. 

I. By a substantive with a preposition. 

Ex. : Swallows come in summer. The children lunch at noon. 
Wolves prowl during the night. The frost has lasted since 
Monday, We shall have a holyday at Easter. My mother 



TIME OF THE ACTION. 67 

vnll send me a cake before my birthday. You have been 
idle for a long time. Tlie fanner has married since his father's 
death. 

II. The second manner of expressing circumstances 
of time is by a peculiar kind of words called Ad- 
•VERBs OF Time. 

Ex. : The poor woman will soon die. Shall we say onr lesson 
noio? The soldier has told us that story before. Ice is 
ahoays cold. The diligent man rises early. The fruit will 
be brought presently. Easter falls late. The clock wiU 
strike directly. 

Several of the prepositions are also used as adverbs of 
time. When thus employed they become adverbs, and if 
translated must be rendered in another language by 
adverbs. In the above example, " The soldier has told us 
that story before/' the word before which we have seen in 
the list of prepositions is really an adverb, for which already, 
another adverb of time, might be substituted. 

Among adverbs of time are the following words : 



afterwards 


early 


just 


recently 


ago 


ever 


late 


since 


already 


forever 


lately 


shortly 


always 


formerly 


long 


soon 


awhile 


henceforth 


never 


stiU 


betimes 


henceforward 


now 


then 


directly 


hereafter 


presently 


thereafter 



To-day^ to-morrow, to-night, yesterday, and similar 
words, are commonly reckoned among adverbs of 
time ; but in English they are very frequently sub- 
stantives. In this character they often stand as the 
subject of the sentence; and, at other times, assuming 
the genitive case, they serve to define another sub- 
stantive. 

Ex. : To-day is Monday. To-night is Christmas eve. Yester- 
day's paper is lost. To-morrow's post will bring a letter. 

Every expression answering to the questions 

"when?" "how long?" asked with the verb, is 

equivalent to an adverb of time ; such are, for ever, 
for life, of old, &c. 



68 TIME OF THE ACTIO J^. 

EXERCISE. 

Lesson 65. — Write twenty sentences, and determine 
the predicate of each by a circumstance of time answering 
to the question, "when?" 

Ex. : The leaves fall w autumn. The packet has^'z^^ airived. 

Lesson 66. — "Write twenty sentences with a circum- 
stance of time in the predicate answering to the question, 
" how long?" 

Ex. : Our holydays last six weeks. God will reign /or ever. 

Substantives are frequently defined by an incident of 
time ; expressed, sometimes by a substantive with a prepo- 
sition following the word defined, as, a journey in summer ; 
a walk in the morning ; the races for the ensuing week ; and 
sometimes by a substantive without preposition preceding 
the substantive that it defines, as a Christmas pudding; 
summer c\oX\iu\g ', spring corn; the Easter -week; a morning 
ride; an afternoon nap. As with other substantives, defined 
by a substantive without the sign of the genitive case, the 
scholar will neglect no fair opportunity of connecting such 
compound words v/ith a hyphen. 

EXEECISE. 

Lesson 67. — Try to define fifty substantives by some 
incident of time, whether expressed by a substantive with 
a preposition following, or by a substantive preceding the 
word defined. 

Ex. : I. A coat for cold weather. II. A summer residence. 

Circumstances of time of the third class enumerated 
at the commencement of this section (the number of 
times), are commonly expressed by words called Ad- 
verbs OF Frequency. 

Ex.: "We often have a holyday. A miser rarely gives alms. 
The idle seldom become rich. He sometimes catches a trout. 
The sparrow frequently builds in the marten's nest. I saw 
the queen once. You shook the desk txoice. The cock 
crowed thrice. 

After " thrice " the number of times is expressed 
by the definite numerals with the word ^^ times ;^^ 
four times^ five times, ten times, &c. Once is also 
frequently employed in the sense oi formerly. 



TIME OF THE ACTION. 69 

The following adverbs express circumstances of 
frequency or infrequency. 



again 


often 


hourly 


annually 


always 


rarely 


daily 


yearly 


ever 


repeatedly 


nightly 


once 


frequently 


seldom 


weekly 


twice 


never 


sometimes 


monthly 


thrice 



Every expression answering to tlie question "^ how 
often ? " asked with, the verb, is equivalent in sense 
to an adverb of Frequency, 

EXERCISE. 

Lesson 68. — Write twenty sentences, each containing a 
circumstance of frequency. 

Ex.: The doctor has been to Paris twice. My brother has 
frequently gained a prize. 

Lesson 69. — Write as many sentences as you can invent, 
describing what you do from getting up till bedtime ; and 
let each assertion be more accurately determined by some 
circumstance of time, underlined as before. 

Ex. : In summer the weather is fine. I rise early. After rising 
I say my prayers. Then I wash myself, &c. 

The employment of adverbs is not, as might be in- 
ferred from the name, limited to indicating the cir- 
cumstances of the verb. By prefixing an adverb to 
an adjective or a participle, we determine more 
closely the meaning of the latter ; and by thus limit- 
ing its range, by defining, as it were, the definitive, 
we have additional facilities for showing the precise 
sense in which we wish the substantive to be under- 
stood. The following sentences contain instances of 
adjectives and participles used adjectively, whose 
meaning is more closely determined by Adverbs of 
Time. 

Ex.: A long lost son. An oft told tale. A frequently recur- 
ring evil. A never ceasing pain. A 07ice dear friend. 

Note. — The preposition by which a substantive, indi- 
cating a circumstance of time, is governed, is not always 



70 PLACE OF THE ACTION. 

expressed ; as in the sentences, '* we go to the play every 
evening:" " he visits his estates twice a year ;" " I remained 
three months at Paris." Here the prepositions " on," " in" 
"for," are understood, and the pupil will regard the sub- 
stantives " evening," " year," " months," as governed in 
the accusative case by the prepositions thus understood. 



SECTION XIII. 
PLACS OP THB ACT20W. 

When we speak of an action, we frequently accom- 
pany the assertion with indications more or less direct 
of its locality. Three CircumstatsCES of Place are 
distinguishable : the direction ichencc ; the direction 
lohither; and the place where. The words " Avhence " 
and "whither" are now, comparatively, but little 
used ; which is to be regretted, for they express cer- 
tain circumstances of direction much more neatly 
than " ivhere^^ with, the prepositions ^^ from " and 
" ^0," too frequently substituted for them. 

Circumstances of Place are expressed in two ways. 

I. By a substantive with a preposition. 

II. By words called Adverbs of Place. 

Prepositions are said to have expressed, originally, rela- 
tions of place only ; and they may all still be used to ex- 
press such relations, with the exception of during, except, 
save, since, till funtilj. Of these, ''during" was evidently 
(originally) a participle ; and ''except," "save" imperative 
forms of verbs. 

The following sentences furnish instances of cir- 
cumstances of place expressed by a substantive with 
a preposition. 

Ex.: The hospital stands heside the church. The boat goes 
toivards the cliff. A lion comes from Africa. The owl has 
flown i7ito the ham. A fever is raging in that unfortunate 
town. The cottager has planted some pinks in his garden. 



PLACE OF THE ACTION. 71 

The brigand drew a pistol from his girdle. The general 
laid his cane upon the table. Roots grow beneath the sur- 
face. A coward is useless in battle. Modesty is pleasing 
in youth. 

EXERCISE. 

Lesson 70.^Write twenty sentences, the predicate of 
each containing- a circumstance of place answering to the 
question whither ? expressed by a substantive with a pre- 
position (underlined). 

Ex. : The farmer will send the colt to the fair. 

Lesson 71. — ^Write twenty similar sentences vnih cir- 
cumstances of place answering to the question whence ? 

Ex. : The government has received despatches /rom India. 

Lesson 72. — AVrite twenty similar sentences with cir- 
cumstances of place answering to the question where ? 

Ex. : Our Sa-\T.our was bom i?i a stable. 

Substantives are very commonly defined by some cir- 
cumstance of locality. This may be expressed either by a 
substantive and preposition following the word defined : as 
the seat under the oak ; the mill m the valley ; the path 
across the mountains; the trees by the church; the bridge 
over the canal ; a swim in the river ; the rushes on the bank, 
&c. : or the defining substantive, without preposition, may 
precede the word defined, determining it by some attribute 
of origin, destination, or other circumstance entirely local : 
as a Russia merchant ; India ale ; Bologna sausages ; Yar- 
mouth herrings ; a Banbury cake ; Portugal grapes ; country 
bread ; sea fish ; a garden chair ; house lamb ; ditch water ; 
river eels. We find some such com,pound terms settled 
down into concrete v/ords, as countryman. In some instances 
the definitives which thus precede their substantive readily 
submit to transposition, and will follow the word defined, 
being then governed by a preposition. Thus, instead of 
saying India ale, we can say ale for India ; Bologna sausages 
may be rendered sausages from Bologna ; but we cannot, 
instead of a Russia merchant, say a merchant to Russia. 
This habit of using substantives without prepositions, to 
define other substantives by some extraneous attribute is 
peculiar to our language ; in translation the preposition is 
indispensable. Where the pupil thinks that the two terms 



72 



PLACE OF THE ACTION. 



are so intimately connected as fairly to form a compound 
substantive he will connect them by a hyphen. We have a 
few examples of participal definitives modified by circum- 
stances of place, such as town-iadide, country -hred, sea-horn, 
ceV- drawn. These are always joined by a hyphen ; homespun 
and similar words are instances of such definitives reduced 
by custom into concrete terms. 



EXERCISE. 



Lesson 73. — Write twenty-five substantives defined by 
some attribute of locality expressed by a substantive with 
a preposition, and twenty-five defined by a substantive 
attributive of locality, but which precedes the word defined. 

Ex. : I. The cave tender the cliff. II. A York ham. 

The following sentences contain circumstances Oi 
place expressed by Adverbs of Place. 

Ex. : James has left his books here. Let us go forth. The 
boy wiU drive the sheep hither. God reigns everywhere. A 
rambler rests nowhere. The shepherd Hes yonder. The 
sheep graze around. The admiral resides abroad. The mas- 
ter goes in. The servant remains outside. Come hither. Go 
away. 

The following are the principal adverbs of place. 
Among them the scholar will observe some which, 
have been already given in the list of prepositions, 
for many words assume various etymological charac- 
ters, that is, they are now one and now another part 
of speech, according to the functions which they per- 
form in the sentence. 



about 

above 

across 

after 

along 

anywhere 

apart 

around 

aside 

away 

back 

backward 

before 

behind 



below 

beneath 

by 

down 

downward 

everywhere 

forth 

forward 

here 

hereabouts 

hither 

hitherward 

homeward 



inward 

near 

nigh 

nowhere 

off 

on 

onward 

over 

out 

outside 

outward 

round 

somewhere 

thence 



there 

thereabout 

throughout 

together 

under 

undermost 

underneath 

up 

uppermost 

upward 

within 

without 

yonder 



PLACE OF THE ACTION. 73 

Every expression answering to the questions loliere ? 
lohence? ivhither? asked with the verb^ indicates a cir- 
cumstance of place, and, even if not strictly an adverb, 
is equivalent to, and may be regarded as an adverb of 
place. Such expressions are, at hand, hard by, above 
stairs, at sea, abed, at home, &c. 

EXERCISE. 

Lesson 74. — Write twenty sentences, each containing a 
circumstance of place expressed by an adverb. 

Ex. : Carry the basket yonder. I have left my pencil some- 
where. See here the result of your conduct. Take your 
hooks awai/. The children must remain within. 

Lesson 75. — Write six sentences containing in the pre- 
dicate a circumstance of place answering to the question 
where ? six answering to the question whither ? and six 
others answering to the question whence ? 

Ex. : You may sit here. Parents send their children to school. 
Water springs /ro/?i the earth. 



SECTION XIV. 
MANNER OF THi: ACTION. 

Mood in grammar, of which I have already spoken, 
has reference only to the manner of the assertion; 
but the action asserted may happen, or be performed, 
in many very different ways j and when, in speaking, 
we describe hoio a thing is done, that description 
forms a circumstance of mats^ner. 

Circumstances of manner are expressed in various 
ways. 

I. By a substantive with a preposition. 

Ex. : A brave soldier fights toith courage. The mother fondles 
her child ivith tenderness. The actress dresses in the fashion. 
That gentleman sings icith feeling. The righteous suffer in 
patience. The wicked live icithout honour. The fiddler 
travels on foot. The dog held the bull hy the nose. The 
enraged smith struck the vicious animal a heavy blow loith 
Ms hammer. Judas betrayed his master loith a kiss. In- 
tegrity gains strength by tise. 

E 



74 MANNER OF THE ACTION. 

EXERCISE. 

Lesson 76. — "Write twenty sentences, each containing a 
circumstance of manner expressed by a substantive with a 
preposition, the substantive being defined by an adjective 
or a participle. 

Ex. : The storm rages with feareul violence. 

A substantive is sometimes defined by another sub- 
stantive indicative of some circumstance of manner ; thus 
a boat propelled by steam, is named a steam-ho^X ; a coach 
that proceeds by stages, is called a stage-cod^oh. ; and so of 
a tide-TniW, water-works, a horse-wlieel, and other similar 
compound substances, v\^hich should always be written with 
a hyphen. 

Definitives of singular force and beauty are formed by 
jjrefixing to the passive participle a substantive indicative 
of the agent from vv^hich the action has proceeded. The 
following examples will illustrate this observation : 

The dozid-ca])-ped towers. The snow-cl&.d mountains. A 
moo7i-\it heath. His toil-^vom frame. Om- sea-girt isle. 
A tcater-logged ship. A sim-huint peasant. 

Such compound definitives, where custom does not 
sanction their being written as a single word, must be 
carefully connected by a hyphen. 

Another singular class of compound definitives are those 
formed from substantives, upon the model of the passive 
participle, where no verb exists, the definitive thus formed 
being again modified by a prefixed substantive or ad- 
jective. 

Ex. : A curly-headed urchin. A rosy-cheeked boy. A cherry- 
lipped girl. A hook-nosed man. A cross-eyed woman. A 
loooden-legged'heggdiX. A /owr-/oofec? animal. The pot-bellied 
publican. 

As we have no such verbs as, to cheek, to leg, to foot, to 
lip, &c., such terms cannot be called participles. They are 
compound adjectives, and care must be taken, if not written 
as a concrete word, to unite them by a hyphen, that we 
may avoid the anomalv of isolated substantives. 



Lesson 77. — Try (L) if you can write twenty-five 
phrases in which a substantive is defined by a passive 



]MA^^^'ER OF THE ACTIOX. 75 

participle, preceded by another substantive, indicating the 
agent ; and (II.) then write twenty-five phrases in which a 
substantive is defined by a compound adjective of the kind 
just named. 

Ex. : I. A bhod-stained banner. Tlae stor-spangled firma- 
ment. 
XL A boic-leggedhoj. The long-eared ass. The green- 
eyed monster. 

II. Another mode, and a very frequent one, of 
expressing a circumstance of manner is by words 
called Adverbs of matnIsER. 

Ex. A brave soldier fights courageously. The mother fondles 
her child tenderly. The actress dresses fashionably. The 
righteous sufier i^atiently. That youth works diligently. 
The sun shines brightly. The ice is rapidly melting. We 
will go together. His coat tits ill. The plan answers xoell. 
Charles answered thus. I hold my pen so. 

Adverbs of manner form a very numerous class of words. 
Almost every quality which can be attributed to a substan- 
tive may be employed to characterize the manner of an 
action ; in all languages^, the adverb, employed to express 
the manner of the verb, is formed, with few exceptions, in 
a regular manner from the adjective. The scholar will 
perceive both the frequency and the form of adverbs, if he 
tries in how many ways he can represent an ordinary 
action. For instance : the man rides swiftly, rapidly, 
sloioly, badly, well, ill, fast, alone,^ desperately, gracefully, 
awkwardly, recklessly, madly, despondingly , carelessly, care- 
fully, blindly, thoughtfully, calmly, resolutely, boldly, timidly,, 
cautiously, incautiously, stealthily, covertly, openly, daringly, 
foolishly, &c. &c. &c., and so of any other action. Here 
it is seen that the ordinary termination of English adverbs 
is "/y" added to the adjective. 

EXERCISE. 

Lesson 78. — Write twenty sentences, defining the sub- 
ject of each by an adjective, and the predicate by an 
adverb of manner. 

Ex. : The young governess dresses elegantly. 

Adverbs of manner are extensively used in modifying 
definitives, and thus determining, with greater precision, 

E 2 



76 MANNER OF THE ACTIOIST. 

the sense in which we wish the substantive to be under- 
stood. 

Ex. : A well dressed man. An ill bred fellow. The gently 
waving com. A loidely spreading evil. A brightly blazing 
fire. A highly polished surface. 

In such instances the adverb is written separately, this 
class of words serving to define adjectives as weU as 
verbs. 

III. The manner of tlie action is sometimes deter- 
mined by an Adjective. 

Ex. : The labourer works hard. The ice strikes cold. Sugar 
tastes siceet. Do not speak Mid. The carnation smells 
siveet. The coward turns pale. The troops stand Jirm. 
The horse walks lame. You have done wrong. The pedler 
charges dear. 

Sentences like these demand some little explanation. 
The verbs thus completed by an adjective are divisible into 
two classes. In the first class are to be placed those in 
which the entire predicate may be regarded as a compound 
verb, formed to supply the place of some verb which, though 
found perhaps in other languages, is wanting in our own. 
Such for instance is the phrase to " turn pale," for which 
we have no simple verb ; though we can express the act of 
turning red by the verb to hlush. So we have no word 
that expresses the action of yielding an agreeable odour ; 
but that of emitting an unpleasant scent is expressed by 
the verb to stink. In other languages we find a verb that 
asserts the action of not speaking, which in English we 
express by the compound verb to remain silent, or by the 
strange circumlocution to hold one's tongue. Some of these 
compound verbs are transitive, taking after them, a comple- 
ment, which is very commonly placed between the verb 
and the adjective, thus : the scholars have made the master 
angry; the dog has driven the bull mad; the heat has 
turned the beer sour. In these three sentences w^e may 
consider that the verbs really are " to make angry," " to 
drive mad," "to turn sour;" and, if we change the order 
of the words, we shall see at once that these adjectives 
are not used to define the substantives which they follow. 
We do not assert that the boys have done anything to the 



MANNER OF THE ACTION. 77 

" angry master," that the dog has driven a " mad bull," 
or that the heat has acted upon " sour beer." It is only 
in conjunction with the adjective that the verb expresses 
the action predicated ; and, as the action is the producing 
of a certain eifect in another object, the compound verb 
necessarily requires a complement to render the proposition 
intelligible. In the second class of sentences, where a verb 
is modified by an adjective, this adjective must be regarded 
as an adverb, and indeed, in a majority of instances, it 
would be better were an adverb employed. It might seem 
pedantic to say, " the labourer works hardly ;" but we cer- 
tainly could say, without being liable to a charge of affec- 
tation, " the troops stood firmly,^' " do not speak so 
loudly." Where universal practice has given currency to 
forms that sin against rules, the grammarian must accept 
the irregularly formed expressions ; but he will take care 
to avoid needless imitations of vicious locutions. This 
employment of the adjective, though formerly common 
even with writers of the highest reputation, is now of in- 
frequent occurrence, and might be excepted to even in 
some of the instances where it still prevails. I shall not 
require an exercise under this rule : these observations will 
enable the pupil to account for this construction when he 
meets with it ; and will also warn him against employing 
it where it may be avoided. Let him bear in mind, that 
there is nothing that more frequently betrays the ignorance 
of an unlettered man than the employment of adjectives 
adverbially. 

IV. Another method of defining the manner of an 
action is by a participle, whether active or passive : 
the active participle of a transitive verb being fre- 
quently followed by a complement ; and the participles 
of both voices admitting the same modifications as the 
verbs from which they are derived. 

Ex. : Yon boy comes running. A horse sleeps standing. A 
mendicant goes begging. The Christian dies praying. The 
widow left the room weeping bitterly. The farmer ap- 
proached shaking his stick. Jesus entered Jerusalem seated 
upon an ass. 

The participial phrase expressing a circumstance of 
manner, frequently precedes the verb, and even the subject 



78 MANNER OF THE ACTION. 

itself. This transposition of the parts of a sentence gives 
variety to style, and should be practised by those who aim 
at excelling in composition. 

Ea;. : The widow, weeping bitterly, left the room. Seated upon 
mi ass, Jesus entered Jerusalem ; or Jesus, seated upon an 
ass, entered Jerusalem. 

V. We have seen, in treating of circumstances of 
place, under Section XIII. of the present chapter, 
many prepositions used as, and really becoming, ad- 
verbs. Prepositions are also extensively employed to 
express the manner of the action ; and some of the 
adverbs already cited as adverbs of place are also 
"used to describe manner. Indeed there are expres- 
sions in which the circumstance may be regarded as 
one of place or of manner at the option of the reader. 
The following sentences contain prepositions and 
adverbs of place, used to determine the meaning of 
the verb by a circumstance of manner. 

Ex.: The president stood up. The speaker sat doxon. The 
dog ran away. The kettle boiled over. The thieves fell 
out. The garrison holds out. The patient lingers on. The 
house has fallen in. The ice has broken up. The pilot 
has brought the ship to. The child has broken her doll's 
head off. The driver has turned the coach over. A 
humane neighbour took the orphans in. The host turned 
his guests out. 

In such expressions as these, although the modifying 
particle, taken singly, must be regarded as an adverb, it in 
effect often forms with the verb itself a compound verb, in 
the same way that a preposition prefixed to a simple verb 
does. In some few instances, indeed, it is indifferent whe- 
ther the preposition be prefixed to or follow the root verb ; 
as to oi;erturn, or to turn over. In other cases the particle 
so changes the meaning of the conjoined verb, as to ex- 
press an action having no relation to the one expressed by 
the simple verb. So intimate, indeed, is the connexion, 
that we find the compound term treated as a distinct verb 
in our dictionaries. When such a compound verb is tran- 
sitive, we find the modifying particle either preceding or 
following the complement almost indifferently ; as to bring 
the ship to, or to bring to the ship ; to break off tlie head, 



MANNER OF THE ACTION. 79 

or to break the head off ; to pull down the house, or to pull 
the house down. We have some such verbs compounded 
with an adverb or a preposition used adverbially, that 
govern their complement indirectly through a preposition. 

Ex. : The upstart looks dow7i ttpon his neighboiurs. The vicar 
sometimes looks hi upon us. The spendthrift has made 
away loith his estate. You must look out for a situation. 
A slanderer speaks ill of every one. The fox ran away with 
the goose. 

As before mentioned, our language is very copious, and 
we can commonly find a simple verb that is the perfect 
equivalent of these periphrastic terms. Thus to look down 
upon, is to despise; to look in upon = to visit; to make 
away with = to squander, and sometimes even to murder; 
to look out for = to seek ; to call out to = to hail, &c. &c. 

Compound verbs, like those of which we are treating, 
have commonly the passive voice, the modifying particle 
accompanying the participle wherever it occurs, to which 
it is considered as in a measure suffixed. 

EXERCISE. 

Lesson 79. — Write twenty sentences, predicating of 
various subjects by the following verbs. 

To run down, pull out, turn round, break down, break loose, 
turn down, turn over, seek out, turn off, set out, set up for, 
shake off, set do-\vn, set off, put off, look out, look after, 
clear up, close up, close in upon. 

Ex. : The steamer has run down a fishing boat. 

Lesson 80. — Try and recollect twenty such verbs your- 
self, and form sentences with them. 

Lesson 81. — Write twenty sentences, using the passive 
voice of twenty such compound verbs as are employed 
transitively in the active voice. 

Ex. : A fishing boat has been run down by the steamer. 



80 ORIGIN OF THE ACTIOIS-. 

SECTION XV. 
ORIGI3^ OF THE ACTION. 

We are in tlie frequent habit of expressing ivh]/ 
tlie subject does the action predicated of it, or of 
showing the ground on which is based the judgment 
that we assert. The mention of what gives rise to 
the action, or of the incident on which the judgment 
is grounded, may be called the Circumstance of 
Origin. Such circumstances are always expressed 
by a substantive with a preposition. 

The origin of an action maybe attributed to various 
sources. 

1. A direct cause may be named. 

Ex. : The poor boy shivers loith cold. Tlie woman fainted /rom 
hunger. A dunce yawns from idleness. The child screams 
with pain. Our servant is frantic with the toothache. The 
patient is weokfrom loss of blood. The coach was upset bi/ 
negligence. 

2. A motive may be alleged. 

Ex. : The lady rides for exercise. Many persons travel for 
pleasure. The merchant toils /or wealth. He subscribed to 
the institution from vanity. The child peeps into the box 
from curiosity. The soldier fights /or glory. 

3. A price may be stated. 

Ex. : Esau sold his birthright for a mess of pottage. Judas 
betrayed his master /or thirty pieces of silver. 

4. An inference may be drawn. 

Ex. : The cask is empty by the sound. The stranger seems 
a gentleman by his manners. The prisoner is a soldier by 
his dress. The fellow is a sot by his red nose. The bird is a 
thrush by its note, 

5. We must rank among circumstances of origin the 
mention of the material from which a thing is made. 

Ex. : Beer is brewed from malt. The cottager prepares mead 
from honey. Starch is prepared/rom corn. Opium is made 
from poppies. The spinner makes linen joxn from flax . The 
ignorant make mountains of molehills. 



ORIGIN OF THE ACTION. 81 

EXERCISE. 

Lesson 82. — Write twenty sentences, and assign to each 
predicate a circumstance of origin of the first class men- 
tioned above (the cause). 

Ex.-. Iron xvi&is, from damp. 

Lesson 83. — Write twenty sentences, each containing a 
circumstance of origin alleging the motive or end proposed. 

Ex. : The Christian relieves the poor /rom the love of God. 

Lesson 84. — Write twenty sentences, each containing a 
circumstantial phrase of the third or fourth class, showing 
either the price of the action or the inference on which the 
judgment is based. 

Ex. : The old woman foretels rain from the shooting of her 
corns. 

An illustration of the circumstantial clauses that express 
the material of which an object is composed is scarcely 
required, as the pupil could furnish fifty such on the instant. 

A very common method of determining a substantive is 
to prefix, as a definitive, a substantive naming the consti- 
tuent material of the object ; as, a gold watch ; a silk dress ; 
an apple pudding ; a plum cake. In some instances we have 
adjectives regularly formed from such substantives, of which, 
in the translation of the Scriptures, many examples may be 
found that are no longer commonly used, the substantive 
being now preferred. Some of the following are adjectives 
of this class : a golden calf; the Irazen serpent ; silken ban- 
ners ; wheaten bread ; an oaten cake ; woollen garments ; 
wooden pavement ; waxen image ; flaxen hair ; a leaden cis- 
tern ; an oaken table ; the ashen pole ; a hempen cord ; a 
leathern jerkin. 



SECTION XYI. 

COMFXiBMENT OF ADVERBS. 

The adverb, in conjunction with the verb or adjec- 
tive to which it is joined, commonly offers a complete 
sense. There are, however, a few words of this class, 
which, describing the circumstance of the action by 



82 COMPLEMENT OF ADVERBS. 

reference to some object other than that from which it 
proceeds, are incomplete in sense till such other object 
be named. The adverbs which thus take a comple- 
ment, require that the latter be preceded by the par- 
ticular preposition demanded by the adjective from 
which the adverb is formed, and they may therefore 
be called Governing Adverbs. 

We sometimes find an adjective with a complement em- 
ployed as an adverb, a construction to be carefully avoided, 
even at the risk of being thought pedantic ; but in expres- 
sions where the employment of the adjective in this manner is 
sanctioned by a usage so general as to give unquestionable 
currency to the locution, the word, while describing the 
circumstance of an action, and not the quality of a substan- 
tive, is for the time an adverb. 

The following sentences contain examples of ad- 
verbs and adjectives used adverbially, followed by a 
complement. 

Every man slio^'ald live conformably to the rules of prudence. 
The commanders acted independently of each other. Each 
competitor was rewarded proportionately to his merit. The 
present governor acts differently from his predecessor. We 
have sold the goods agreeably to your instructions. This 
story was invented subsequently to the hero's death. The 
Arabs were encamped apart from the Europeans. The ad- 
miral's ship Avas moored opposite to the battery. 

EXERCISE. 

Lesson 85. — Write sentences in which a circumstance 
of the verb is described by each of the following adverbs 
with a suitable complement : — 

Conformably, differently, apart, conjointly, pursuant, inde- 
pendently, agreeably, exclusively, relatively, opposite, close, 
separately. 



SECTION XVII. 

SBVBRAZi CIRCUMSTANCES IN THE 
PREDICATE. 

It frequently occurs that we allude to several cir- 
cumstances attendant on the same action, or that we 



CIRCUMSTANCES IN THE PREDICATE. 83 

explain an assertion by enumerating various collateral 
incidents ; and thus it is by no means uncommon to 
meet with a predicate containing several circum- 
stantial clauses, sometimes of similar and sometimes 
of different kinds. 

In the following sentences are circumstances of a 
similar kind ; as, time and time, place and place, &c. 

The picture was removed /rom the library to the parlour. The 
moon will set early to-night. The gun stands there in the 
corner. Easter falls late this year. The coach leaves daily 
in the morning at sunrise. 

The sentences which follow contain circumstances 
of different kinds : as, time and place, place and 
manner, &c. 

Snipes arrive in England in the autumn. Tigers are sometimes 
hunted on elephants in India. People go to church on Sun- 
days, hi the East thousands die annually fi^om cholera. The 
lark sings joyously in the spring. Every evening in summer 
time the boys /or exercise play cricket in yonder meadow, 

EXERCISE. 

Lesson 86. — Write twenty sentences, containing two 
or more circumstances, expressed either by adverbs or by 
circumstantial phrases, and endeavour to arrange them so 
that one or other of the circumstances (although belonging 
to the predicate) may precede the subject. 

Ex. : From fear the sheep instantly ran into the fold. 



SECTION XYIII. 

RECAPITULATORY OBSERVATIONS 
UPON CHAPTER II. 

We saw, at the very commencement of our studies, 
that in every sentence two essential parts might be 
distinguished, the Subject and the Predicate, 
forming the principal members of the sentence. Let 
us reconsider briefly these two principal members of 
the sentence, and those subordinate members de- 



84 RECAPITULATORY OBSERVATIONS 

pendent upon tliem, which it has been the object of 
the present chapter to explain. 

The SUBJECT of the sentence is a person or a thing, 
either material as a stone, or an ideality as ignorance; and 
is in language expressed by a substantive or by a pronoun, 
or definitive representing a substantive. Every substantive 
may be restricted or determined in its signification by the 
aid of other words. This closer determination of the sense 
of the substantive is called Addition ; and all kinds of 
words wlien thus employed have been classed under the 
term Definitives. 

Ex. : The dog barks. The watchful dog barks. The shepherd's 
dog barks. The house-dog barks. The dog in the manger 
barks. 

The Predicate asserts an action of, or attributes a 
quality to, the subject. It contains two notions essentially 
distinct, although frequently expressed by the same word. 
These two distinct ideas are the assertion and the attribute, 
of which the former is often effected by the verb to be, 
the attribute being expressed by a substantive, an adjective, 
or a participle. 

Ex. : The kitten is ajt animal. The kitten is playful. The 
kitten is playing. 

Very commonly the assertion and the attribute are both 
expressed by the verb itself. 

Ex. : The 'kitten plays. 

Many qualities can only exist in one object referentially 
to other objects, and many actions asserted of the subject 
have a relation more or less direct to some other object. 
Adjectives expressing such qualities, and verbs predicating 
such actions require, in order to be intelligible, to be fol- 
lowed by words pointing out the objects to which they have 
relation, and the words which serve to complete the sense 
of such an adjective or verb form its Complement. 

Ex.: The man is desirous of applause. Catgut is capable o/' 
extension. The boy is ignorant of the danger. Few men are 
proof against flattery. The dog follows his master. The 
dog barks at the sheep. The cat plays with the inouse. 



UPON CHAPTER II. 85 

The complement is always an object, expressed by a 
substantive or a pronoun. When it is expressed by a 
substantive the sense of the latter may, as in all other 
cases, be more closely determined or defined by an 
Addition. 

Ea;.: The man is desirous of general applause. Catgut is- 
capable of great extension. The boy is ignorant of the 
danger of his position. Few men are proof against flattery 
from their siq^eriors. The dog foRowed his old master. The 
dog barked at the farmer's sheep. The cat plays with the 
luckless mouse. 

The sense of the predicate may be more precisely deter- 
mined by the enunciation of various Circumstances of 
locality, time, manner, and origin. 

Ex.: I have been writing all the morning. The dog barks 
loudly. Our friends are walking in the garden. A soldier 
faintedyrowi the heat. 

When these circumstances are expressed by substantives, 
which is frequently the case, the latter may be more 
closely defined by Addition. 

Ex. : Our friends are walking in the neighbour's garden. A 
soldier fainted from the excessive heat. A dog is barking 
loudly in the stable yard. 

Some few adverbs that express of themselves an incom- 
plete sense, require to be followed by a complement 
serving to render their meaning perfectly clear. As the 
complement must necessarily convey the idea of some 
object it is expressed by a substantive, or by a pronoun or 
other word representing a substantive. 

Ex. : The victor numbered his captives exclusively of the chil- 
dren. He planted some trees close to the church. 

The Subject and the Predicate are, as before ob- 
served, the Principal Members of the sentence : 
Addition, Complement, and Circumstance, not being 
essential to the formation of a sentence, are called the 
Subordinate Members of it. 

We may thus distinguish in an extended simple 
sentence five different members, named as follows : — 

1. Subject {Nominative). 

2. Predicate ( Verb and Attribute), 

3. Addition {Definitive). 



86 RECAPITULATORY OBSERVATIONS 

4. Complement {Accusative). 
5. . Circumstance {Adverb). 

The Subject is followed by a verb, whose number and 
person it governs. The Predicate depends upon the 
subject, with which it must not only agree in number and 
person, but, when the attribute is expressed by an adjec- 
tive or by a participle, as it always is in the passive voice, 
these must agree with the subject in gender also. Addition 
always determines a substantive, which may however be 
either subject, attribute, complement, circumstance, or even 
another addition; substantives in all positions admitting a 
closer determination of the sense in which they are used. 

When the addition consists of a substantive, or, in other 
words, when the meaning of one substantive is restricted 
or determined by another, the rule of general grammar 
requires that the determining substantive be in the genitive 
case ; but this rule, as has been already remarked, is very 
frequently disregarded in English. 

When the addition consists of an adjective or a participle 
these words agree in number, gender, and case with the 
substantive defined. Complement and Circumstance 
always depend upon an adjective or a verb, with the ex- 
ception of some few adverbs which demand a complement. 
4 simple sentence may be so extended as to contain many 
subordinate members. 

Ex.: An, able officer of engineers, from the neigbbouiing 
garrison, closely watcbed, ficom an unsuspected cave in the 
face of the mountain, the various manoeuvres of the 
enemy's army in the narrow valley beyond the river. 

Sentences like the above, containing many subordinate 
members, all intended to aid the full development of the 
thought, are frequently met with in reading. We should, 
however, avoid the introduction of too many phrases into a 
sentence, and especially guard against overloading it witli 
epithets defining the substantives. The sense is often 
obscured by verbosity; and, even when this is not the case, 
a wordy style quickly fatigues the hearer or reader, from 
the increased attention that is necessary to track a thought 
through the mazes of intricately constructed sentences. 
When it is absolutely essential to the perfect comprehension 
of the thought, that several incidents should be expressed. 



UPON CHAPTER II. 87 

we may frequently commence the sentence with one or 
other of the concomitant circumstances instead of be- 
ginning with the subject. 

EXERCISE. 

Lesson 87. — Extend the following sentences as fully as 
you possibly can by employing addition, complement, and 
circumstance ; and if you can accomplish it without pro- 
ducing an awkward effect, let one or more phrases precede 
the subject. 

Ex. : Thomas slides. Every evening after school the hardy 
little Thomas slides joyously, with, his playfellows from the 
neighbouring village, on the frozen lake at the bottom of 
his imcle's garden. 

Ellen reads. Charles plays. The dog has bitten. A child 
has lost. The angler has caught. A beggar has found. 
William has bought. The pig has eaten. The mother is 
cooking. The apprentice has spoilt. A captain has brought. 
The master will give. 

Lesson 88. — Write twelve similar sentences, of which 
you have ^ourself chosen the subject and predicate. 



CHAPTER III. 



SECTION I. 



THE COMPOUND SEWTEWCE. 
CONJUNCTIONS. 

A Simple Sentence contains only one subject and one 
predicate. We frequently, however, attribute several 
qualities or assert several actions of tbe same subject, 
or we predicate the same thing of different subjects ; 
and we then make use of certain words called C o n- 
JUTS-CTioN s, by whose aid we can so connect kindred 
members of a sentence in a common relation to some 
other member, as to spare the repetition of words, and 
thus render language concise without impairing its 
lucidity. Conjunctions and other connectives perform 
highly important functions in the mechanism of lan- 
guage, and constitute a very interesting part of gram- 
mar. An intimate acquaintance with them is indis- 
pensable to the rapid and solid acquirement of other 
languages; but, in the gradual development of the 
structure of a sentence, I shall, for the present, 
merely exhibit a few examples of connected phrases, 
deferring for a time a more exact analysis of this class 
of words. 

We may assert several things of the sam^e subject; 
and, in this case, several predicates are, by the help 
of conjunctions, connected in relation to a common 
subject, 

Ex. : God is just. God is merciful. God is Just and merciful. 
The dog barks. The dog bites. The dog both barks and 
bites. Caesar was a statesman as well as a soldier. We have 
had milk for breakfast and shall have fish for dinner. The 
gamekeeper killed the hawk, but missed the weasel. This feel- 
ing may be mitigated, if not subdued. 



CONJUNCTIONS. 89 



EXERCISE. 

Lesson 89. — "Write twenty sentences, in which two or 
more predicates depend on one subject, and place a comma 
between the connected members, except when they are 
joined by the conjunctions '* mid," " nor," " or." 

Ex.: Our visitor is a scholar and seems a gentleman. The 
ascent is dangerous, as xoell as difficidt. The brook is rapid, 
though shalloio. The stranger lost his watch, hut saved his 
purse. The tide ebbs and Jloios. "VVe fish in summer, shoot 
in autumn, and hunt hi lointer. 

We often assert the same thing of two or more dif« 
ferent subjects, and in this case, by the help of con- 
junctions, several subjects stand in a common relation 
to the same verb. When several subjects are con- 
nected by such conjunctions that the verb predicates 
of them conjointly, they constitute together a plural 
number, and the verb, and any pronominal word repre- 
senting them, must be put in the plural also. But if 
such conjunctions are used that the verb predicates of 
each subject individually, or of one to the exclusion 
of the other, the verb, &c., will then be in the singular 
number. 

Ex.: The butler and the footman have lost their places. Not 
only the butler, but the footman also, has lost his place. The 
trees of the forest and the floicers of the field feel alike the 
vivifying influence of spring. The roaring of the xoaves, the 
howling of the icinds, the creaking of the cordage, and the hoarse 
voices of the sailors were mingled m* frightful harmony. 

EXERCISE. 

Lesson 90. — ^Write twenty sentences, in each of which 
one verb predicates of two or more subjects. 

Ex.: The lion and the tiger are beasts of prey. Neither the 
woman nor the child can speak a word of Enghsh. 

Several additions may be so connected in relation 
to a common substantive as to spare its repetition; but 
this ellipsis sometimes requires that the defined sub- 
stantive be put in the plural number. 

Ex.: John's book and "William's book are both torn. John's 
and William's books are both torn. The flesh of sheep and 



90 THE COMPOUND SENTENCE, 

the flesh, of oxen serve mankind for food. The flesh oj 
and oxen serves mankind for food. He was a generous as 
well as a rick man. The myrtles wi the conservatory and on 
the lawn are in blossom. Not only German and Spanish, hut 
also African and Australian wool is employed by the English 
clothiers. Avoid vulgar and irreverent language. 

" It is a tale 
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, 
Signifying nothing." 

EXERCISE. 

Lesson 91. — Write twenty sentences, in each of which 
two or more additions determine or qualify the same sub- 
stantive. 

Ex, : The white as well as the purple violet is fragrant. Tan- 
ners convert hoth the cow's and the horse's hide into leather. 
My own and my brother's books are mislaid. The young^ 
rich and beautiful countess is dead. 

Again, several complements may depend upon or 
be governed by the same verb or adjective. 

Ex. : A horse eats hay and corn. Man requii-es 7iot only food 
but raiment also. The deaf are unconscious both of harmony 
and discord. The general is rid of his gout and the surgeon. 
Little Mary gave a penny to the mother and a halfpenny to the 
child. The moon affords light but not heat. She is deficient 
in judgment but not in imagination, 

EXERCISE. 

Lesson 92.— Write twenty sentences, in ten of which 
two or more complements are governed by a verb, and in 
the other ten by an adjective. 

Ex. : Insects destroy both flowers and fruit. Intemperance is 
ruinous to the reputation as well as to the health. 

Several circumstances of a similar kind may be 
connected in relation to a common verb or adjective. 

Ex. : Life is uncertain both in youth and age. I have planted 
some primroses 07i the laion and in the garden also. God sees 
us by night as well as by day. The young lady is admired 
both for her talents and her beauty. The rector visits the 
major now and then. 

EXERCISE. 

Lesson 93. — Write twenty sentences, in each of which 
two or more circumstantial phrases are connected by con- 



PARTICIPIAL CONNECTIVES. 91 

junctions in relation to a common member of the sen* 
tence. 

Ex. : My father speaks rapidly but distinctly. The men are 
fishiiig both 'with lines and a net. The king made the attack 
promptly and xoith complete success. 

We have seen several things predicated of the 
same object, thus having a compound predicate de- 
pendent upon a simple subject; and we have also 
seen the same thing predicated of several distinct 
objects, and then a compound subject is followed by 
a simple predicate. We may however predicate 
several things of several objects, and thus we have 
a compound subject followed by a compound pre- 
dicate. 

Ex. : The crew and p)assengers defended the vessel bravely and 
repelled the pirates. Neither the gentleman nor his wife can 
speah or understand a word of French. The mate^ a part of 
the crew, and several passengers took to one of the boats, made 
for the shore, and landed in safety. 



Lesson 94. — Try if you can form ten sentences, in each 
of which a compound subject is followed by a compound 
predicate. 



SECTION II. 

PARTICIPIAI. CONNECTIVES. 

In narrating several facts of the same subject, we 
may regard some of them as introductory of, or con- 
ducive to, others of more importance, and as cited 
rather to illustrate the principal action, than to recount 
the illustrative incidents themselves. Where this is 
the case, instead of coupling, by conjunctions, all the 
predicates in relation to a common subject, we express 
the preliminary or incidental facts by th.e participles 
of the respective verbs ; and thus, while clearly de- 
scribing several actions emanating from the same 



92 PARTICIPIAL CONNECTIVES. 

subject, we give especial prominence to the fact or 
facts to which we would direct attention. Participles 
preserve the government of the verbs to which they 
belong, and may be accompanied by complement, 
circumstance, and other peculiarities attendant on the 
verb itself. The English language owes much of its 
matchless flexibility to the boldness of its participial 
constructions, to which latter forms the pupil's atten- 
tion will be frequently directed. 

The English verb has, besides other participial forms 
which will be explained hereafter, two participles in each 
voice that are in very general use : the Present Participle 
and the Perfect Participle. The following are the parti- 
ciples of the verb to love, from which the pupil may form 
the corresponding participles of any other verb. 

Active. Passive. 

Present participle loving Cbeing) loved 

Perfect participle having loved having been loved 

The following sentences will exhibit incidental pre- 
dicates changed into participial clauses. 

Ex.: The king extended his hand, smiled graciously and 
raised the suppliant. The king, extending his hand, smiled 
graciously, and raised the suppHant ; or, the king, extending 
his hand, and smiling graciously, raised the suppliant. 
Cromwell entered the house and expelled the members. 
Cromwell, having entered the house, expelled the members. 
The gun was (had been) overcharged, and burst and killed 
the king. The gun being (having been) overcharged, burst 
and kiUed the king. 



Lesson 95. — Change the leading verb in each of the 
following compound sentences, so as to connect the two 
actions with the subject without using a conjunction ; and 
let a comma precede and follow the participial phrase. 

The traveller mended his pace, and soon overtook the waggon. 
The sons dug the field carefully, and thus rendered it 
fertile. The garrison expected succour, and made a 
vigorous defence. The rain fell in torrents, and drenched 
us to the skin. The hawk descended swiftly, and struck 
its victim to the groimd. The stranger called the waiter, 



ORDER OF THE COMPOUND SENTENCE. 93 

and demanded a newspaper. The messenger was late, and 
found the post-office closed. The fellow saw the danger, 
and took to his heels. The coachman got tipsy, and over- 
turned the carriage. The farmer suspected the gipsies, 
and laid a plan for their detection. The plot had been 
betrayed by a confederate, and the princixDal conspirators 
had taken to flight. 

Lesson 96. — Write ten such sentences yourself, and 
underline the participial clauses. 



SECTION ni. 

ORDBR OF THH COMPOUND SBN- 
T£NCi:. 

The clauses of a sentence that are connected by 
conjunctions always have relation to some common 
member of the sentence, but it frequently happens 
that they may be variously arranged as to position 
with regard to such common member ; the arrange- 
ment depending rather upon the relative prominence 
that the speaker or writer would give to the different 
ideas, than upon the etymological character of the 
clauses. 

1. The connected clauses may all follow the com- 
mon member to which they relate. 

2. They may all precede it. 

3. They may partly precede and partly follow it. 

JEx. : 1 . Cleanliness is conducive 7iot only to comfort, hut to health 
also. 2. Not only to comfort, but to health also is cleanliness 
conducive. 3. Not only to comfort is cleanliness conducive, 
hut.to health also. 

1. The artist's talent must be estimated tiot by the frame 
but by the picture. 2. Not by the frame but by the picture must 
the artist's talent be estimated. 3. Not by the frame must 
the artist's talent be estimated, but by the picture. 4. By 
the picture niVi&X th-Q artist's talent be estimated, not by the 
frame. 

When inversion takes place, it often happens that 
the subject^ displaced from the head of the sentence. 



94 DEGREES OF THE ADJECTIVE. 

follows tlie inflected verb, as in an interrogative sen- 
tence : this, however, is not universally the case. 

We have seen that two singular subjects joined by the 
conjunction "'and" require a verb, &c., in the plural 
number; but should one of the subjects thus coupled 
follow the verb, the latter v/ill then be in the singular 
number. 

Es. : Gold and silver are precious metals. Gold is a precious 
metal, and silver also. 

A participial clause of a compound sentence frequently 
precedes the subject on which it depends. 

Ex. : Extending his haoid, the king smiled graciously, and 
raised the suppliant. 



Lesson 97. — Try if you can find, in the various examples 
given under Sections I. and II. of the present chapter, and 
in the exercises that you have written upon those sections, 
twenty sentences that admit of the order of the words 
being inverted. 

Ex. : The haxoh the gamekeeper killed, but missed the weasel. 
Though shaUoio, the brook was rapid. Mitigated this feeling 
may be, if not subdued. 



SECTION IV. 

DEGREES OF TKE ADJECTIVE. 

The qualities attributed to objects may be found 
existing^ or may be judged to exist, in an infinite 
variety of degrees, in the different objects of which 
we speak; and there are found, in every polished 
language, a class of words, called Adveebs of Degree, 
whose office is to augment or diminish the force of an 
adjective to which they are joined. 

Ex. : That gentleman is very rich. Yon lady is exceedingly 
beautiful. This string is too short. My father is quite well. 
You are u-holly wrong. The moon seems entirely round. 



DEGREES OF THE ADJECTIVE. 95 

The wolf is an extremely savage beast. The horse is a 
highhj useful animal. "VVe caught an eiwrmously large eel. 
The rhinoceros is horridly ugly. The elephant is sur- 
prisincjly sagacious. The news is completely false. The 
bridge is rather steep. The weather is intemely cold. The 
pitcher is just full. 

A slight degree of a quality is colloquially expressed by 
adding the termination '^ ish " to the adjective ; a ^m.^Ytish 
blow, a sweetM taste. " So" serves, in familiar expres- 
sions, to increase the force of the adjective : *' our mother 
is so good." " How" is frequently used with an adjective 
to express a very high degree of a quality ; how beautiful 
she is ; how stupid you are. 

EXERCISE. 

Lesson 98. — Write twenty sentences, in each of which 
is an adjective, whose force is affected by an adverb of 
degree underlined. 

Ex. : Geometry is a highly useful science. 

Two or more objects may be spoken of witb refer- 
ence to the degree in which, a quahty, common to 
both or all, exists in the one, as compared with the 
others ; or several qualities may be compared as to 
the degree in which they exist in the same object. 

There are three principal ways of predicating a 
judgment thus based upon comparison. 1. We may 
assert that several objects are equally distinguished by 
a certain quality, or that several qualities exist in an 
equal degree in a certain object. 2. We may assert 
that a quality exists in a greater or less degree in one 
object than in another, or that one quality is greater 
or less than another in the same object. 3. We may 
assert that a quality exists in the highest or lowest 
'degree in the object of which we speak. 

To express these relative degrees, whether of equa- 
lity, of excess or deficiency, of inferiority or supe- 
riority, the adjective has three distinct forms, called 
the Degrees of Comparison. They are named 
the Positive, the Comparative, and the Su- 



96 DEGREES OF THE ADJECTIVE. 

PEE.LATIVE Degree, and analogous forms of ex- 
pression are found in all languages. 

I. The Positive Degree is the adjective in its 
attributive form, as we have hitherto seen it employed 
in simple sentences, when it does not necessarily 
imply direct comparison; or, at least, if the judg- 
ment asserted must have been originally based upon , 
that operation, it is not always expressed in the sen- 
tence. When the adjective in its simple form is em- 
ployed to show the result of a comparison, it expresses 
what is called a Comparison of Equality, in which an 
adverb of degree, conveying by itself an incomplete 
idea, requires to be followed by a correlative term of 
comparison that may be regarded as its complement. 
In a comparison of equality we use adverbially the 
word " a.5," and the same word repeated serves, as 
a conjunction, to connect the phrase which, forming 
the complement of the adverb, determines the value 
of the adjective. 

Ex. : Snow is as cold as ice. The carnation is as beautiful as 
the rose. This book is as instriictive as interesting. That 
young lady is as amiable as beautiful. 

If sentences like these, predicating the judgment result- 
ing from a comparison, be strictly analysed, it will be found 
that a verb has been suppressed ; and therefore the con- 
sideration of such sentences ought perhaps to be postponed 
till complex sentences are treated of; but as in this form 
of expression the ellipsis of the verb is almost universal, 
and the proposition thus assumes, at first sight, the appear- 
ance of an extended simple sentence, I have thought the 
present the most convenient period of our progress for 
considering the comparison of the adjective. If the 
ellipsis be supplied in the sentences just given, we shall 
find two distinct subjects, grammatically considered, having 
distinct predicates. 

Ex. : Snow is as cold as ice is cold. The carnation is as beau- 
tiful as the rose is beautiful. This book is as instructive as 
it is interesting. That young lady is as amiable as she is 
beautiful. 



DEGREES OF THE ADJECTIVE. 97 

EXERCISE. 

Lesson 99. — Write twenty sentences, in which an equa- 
lity is predicated of two objects. 
Ex. : Honey is as sweet as sugar. 

2. The Comparative Degree is commonly used 
in asserting that a greater or less degree of a quality 
is found in one object than in another, or of one 
quality than of another in the same object ; but this 
form is sometimes employed when comparison is not 
directly expressed, although if the sentence be strictly 
examined, it will be found that the assertion is founded 
upon it. The comparative degree is expressed in two 
ways; either by an inflection of the adjective itself, 
consisting in the addition of the letters ^' r " or " er " 
to the positive degree, as, noble, nobler / rich, riche?' ,• 
or by employing as adverbs of degree the words 
" morey^ " less ;" as noble, more noble, less noble ; 
rich, more rich, less rich. The latter form is gene- 
, rally employed with adjectives of more than two syl- 
lables : it would be barbarous, for instance, to say, 
decisiver or indefati^ahler. With monosyllables in- 
flection is more commonly used, but with dissyllables 
the pupil must depend chiefly upon his own ear or 
judgment. "We say nobler, handsomer ; but candider, 
or hrutaler, would oflend even the least fastidious. 
As an adjective in the comparative degree, whether 
such degree be expressed by inflection or by an 
adverb, almost always conveys an imperfect idea, the 
phrase of the sentence which completes the idea may 
be regarded as the complement of the adjective, with 
w^hich it is always connected by the conjunction 
" thanT Where the prevalence of one quality over 
another is inconsiderable, or may be questioned, we 
often use the adverb " rather " instead of more. 

Bx. : The sparrow is one of the smaller birds. The pitcher is 
more than full. Ice is colder than water. Gold is heavier 
than silver. The violet is more jBragrant than the cowslip. 
The poppy is less beautiful than the rose. A good name is 
better than riches. I am taller than you. The doctor is 
rathei' learned t/ian wise. 



98 DEGREES OF THE ADJECTIVE. 

EXERCISE. 

Lesson IGO. — Write twenty sentences, each containing 
an adjective in the comparative degree, ten of which are 
to be expressed by inflection, and ten by the adverbs more 
or less. 

Ex. : Iron is harder than copper. The crane has longer legs 
than the goose. Silver is less useful than iron. My horse 
is more tractable than yours. 

A comparison of inferiority is often expressed by- 
employing, in a negative sentence, the adjective in the 
positive degree ; for when equality is denied, of course 
inferiority is inferred. In such a sentence we com- 
monly use *^ 50 " instead of as, for the adverbial or 
leading member of the connective. 

Ex. : Silver is not so heavy as gold. Wealth is not so precious 
as virtue. 

EXEECISE. 

Lesson 101. — Write twenty sentences in which a com- 
parison of inferiority is expressed by negation. 

Ex. : Latin is not so difficult as Greek. 

3. The SuPERLA^TivE Degree is used to express 
the presence of a quality in the highest or lowest 
degree, and may be employed either in predicating 
absolutely of an object without direct reference to 
other objects, or in asserting the supremacy of one 
object as compared with certain or all other objects 
of the same kind. The superlative degree, like the 
comparative, may be expressed in two ways ; either 
by inflection of the adjective, consisting of the addi- 
tion of the letters " st " or " est " to the positive, as 
noble, noble^^; rich, richest; or, by prefixing the 
adverbs of degree, " most,'' " least ;" as, noble, most 
noble, least noble ; rich, most rich, least rich. The 
same observations apply to the mode of forming the 
superlative degree that were made with reference to 
the comparative. Monosyllabic adjectives are com- 
monly compared by inflection, while polysyllables take 



DEGREES OF THE ADJECTIYE. 99 

the adverbs of degree. With dissyllables the pupil 
will consult his ear^ for the choice depends much on 
euphony. 

Ex. : Virtue is most lovely. The pine is the loftiest of forest 
trees. Baron is the lotvest rank among peers. A miser is 
one of the least estimable of mankind. Rectitude of under- 
standing is the most useful as well as the most nolle of human 
endoTVTnents. The mouse is the smallest of animals. 



Lessgh 102. — Write twenty sentences, each containing 
an adjective in the superlative degree, ten expressed by 
inflection, and ten by the adverbs most, least. 

Ex. : The rose is the loveliest of flowers. Hypocrisy is most 
detestable. The dog is the most faithful of animals. The 
peacock is the least mzisical of birds. 

The result of a comparison may be still more accu- 
rately expressed by employing adverbs of degree. 

Ex. : Snow is quite as cold as ice. Ice is much colder than 
water. Gold is considerably heayier than silver. The violet 
is fat- more fragrant than the cowshp. Iron is infinitely more 
useful than tin. My brother is rather taller than you. The 
rose is much the loveliest of flowers. The doctor is/ar the 
most learned man in the college. 

Sometimes the measure of excess or deficiency is 
indicated by substantives more or less accurately 
defined. 

Ex. : I am older than you by several years. She is taller than 
her sister by three inches. The shaft of the new factory is 
higher than the church spire by seventy feet. 

In familiar style, the substantive expressing the 
measure of excess, unaccompanied by its preposition, 
often precedes the adjective. 

Ex. : I am several years older than you. She is three inches 
taller than her sister. The butcher is a thousand pounds 
richer than his brother. 

The substantives thus expressing the measure of excess 
are in the accusative case, governed by the preposition 
*' ly " understood. 

We frequently employ adverbs of degree, or phrases 

F 2 



100 DEGREES OF THE ADJECTIVE. 

equivalent to them, to indicate our impressions as to 
number or quantity by approximation to some amount 
named. 

Ex. : We saw tqnoards of fifty hares in the park. The large 
room will hold more than a thousand persons. There 
are at least two hundred portraits in the exhibition. This 
cask holds something less than ten gallons. The bridge 
cost considerably above a thousand pounds. 

EXERCISE. 

Lesson 103. — Write twenty sentences, each containing 
an adjective in the comparative degree modified as follows: 
ten by an adverb, and ten by an exact statement of the 
measure of excess. 

Ex. : Iron is much harder than copper. Our horse is higher 
than yours, &y a hand and a half. 



101 



CHAPTER IV. 
THE COMPLEX SENTENCE. 

SECTION I. 
OF COMPZiEIX SENTENCES GENERAIiXaV. 

The preceding chapters have been devoted to the 
examination of Simple Sentences, and Compound 
Sentences; the former containing only one subject 
and one predicate, the latter exhibiting combined 
relations of various kinds ; but still with the subject, 
whether simple or compound, always referring to a 
common predicate, which again may also be either 
simple or compound. But separate objects and their 
peculiar actions are often spoken of under circum- 
stances so distinct and independent as to render such 
an arrangement impossible, whilst yet, as the bearing 
of the facts upon each other forms the grounds of the 
judgment asserted, it is indispensable that this mutual 
relation, as conceived by the speaker, should be shewn 
by connecting them in the enunciation. The mere 
announcement of a series of facts, even if arranged 
with the most scrupulous care, would often be inade- 
quate to convey our impressions justly, to accomplish 
which we connect the various actions of which we 
speak, by words helping to show the conceived 
relation of one fact to the other; and it is by thus 
combining in one sentence distinct verbs predicating 
of distinct subjects that Complex Sentences are 
formed. 

A Complex Sentence consists, then, of at least 
two simple sentences, each having its own subject and 
its own predicate. 



102 COMPLEX SENTENCES. 

A thorough knowledge of the mechanism by which 
sentences are connected in the mother tongue is, perhaps, 
to the student who aims at the sohd acquirement of other 
languages, the most important portion of grammar; for 
without it he can never arrive at a philosophical knowledge 
of their principles or their peculiarities. This essential 
part of the science of grammar is scarcely touched upon by 
our popular writers on that branch of education. They 
have in a great measure limited their examination to the 
relations of words considered individually; but to have a 
clear, and at the same time comprehensive, perception of 
the laws that govern language, we must take a more 
enlarged view of the combinations of words : force, 
lucidity, elegance, indeed all the beauties of language, 
depend almost as much upon the arrangement as upon the 
choice of expressions. The genius and character of every 
polished language is greatly dependent on its connectives ; 
and in inviting the pupil's diligent attention to the chapter 
upon which w^e are now entering, I venture to assure him, 
that in this part of grammar he will find a key, the only 
one that can be found, of ready and universal application,, 
that will open to his intelligence the peculiarities of every 
language to which his subsequent studies may be directed. 

The simple sentences constituting a complex sen- 
tence may stand in two essentially distinct relations 
to each other. 

1. They may narrate distinct facts, each sentence 
being complete in itself, and only coupled with other 
sentences to spare the disagreeable gaps of disjointed 
and abrupt narration; the connectives merely helping 
to show certain reciprocal relations under which, the 
speaker regards them, relations frequently so pro- 
minent, that the hearer would conceive them, were 
the naked facts succinctly told. Two or more inde- 
pendent sentences thus combined, form a Co-ordi- 
nately Combined Complex Sentence, and they 
are connected by certain conjunctions called Co- 
ordinate Conjunctions. 

Ex. : The dog barks, and the child runs away. Prosperity 
gains friends, hut adversity tries them. Although all cannot 



COMPLEX SENTENCES. 103 

give money, yet every one can afford a gentle word and a 
kind look. Righteousness exalts a nation, hid sin is a 
reproach to any people. Fret not thyself because of evil 
men ; neither be thou envious of the vdcked. 

2. A sentence may be employed not so much to 
assert its own fact as to elucidate or explain some 
incident of the fact asserted by another sentence to 
which it is joined^ of which latter it may itself be 
regarded as a clause, being but a periphrasis of a 
part of speech, of which it performs the functions. 
In many sentences, indeed, the fact is not predicated 
at all, but is assumed, put hypothetically, or spoken 
of as a possibility rather than as a reality. When 
one simple sentence thus forms a mere clause of 
another simple sentence to which it is joined, the two 
form together aSuBonDiNATELY Combined Com- 
plex Sentence, the connection of the two sentences 
being accomplished in various ways : if effected by a 
conjunction, one of a certain class called Subordi- 
nate Conjunctions is employed. 

Ex. : As the sun rises, the clouds disperse. The son has mar- 
ried since his father died. I do not know whether you speak 
French. i/"you tell the truth, your master will pardon you. 
Take heed, lest you fall. Make hay while the sun shines. 
The sceptics taught, that all things were uncertain. The 
horse galloped, until it fell from exhaustion. 

Thus a co-ordinately combined complex sentence 
always consists of at least two principal sentences; 
while a suhordinately combined complex sentence 
always contains at least one principal and one acces- 
sory sentence. 



SECTION n. 

OF CO-ORDINATEIjY combineid 
COMPX.EX SENTENCES. 

The conjunctions, by which principal sentences are 
combined together in a complex sentence, do not 



104 CO-ORDINATELY COMBINED 

admit of very rigid classification : as far as the sense 
is concerned they may be reduced to the following 
six : and, hut, for, nor, or, therefore, with several 
others that may be regarded as equivalents of one or 
other of those given. 

As accuracy of expression depends greatly upon 
the judicious choice of connectives, to aid the pupil 
in a just appreciation of the co-ordinate conjunctions, 
let us now proceed to consider them separately in the 
order given above, classing with each the other 
co-ordinate conjunctions that connect sentences in 
the same, or nearly the same sense as the one taken 
for the type of its class. 

AND. 

And is the simplest of all the conjunctions, and 
might indeed be called the conjunction. It unites 
sentences in the completest manner, placing the 
connected assertions upon a perfect equality, and 
admitting elHpsis of the verb in the second sentence 
where it is the same as in the leading sentence, 

Ex. : The boy whistles and the girl sings. The girl sings and 
the hoy whistles. Pride goeth before destruction, and a 
haughty spirit (goeth) before a fall. Age looks with anger 
on the temerity of youth, and youth with contempt on the 
scrupidosity of age. 

Very frequently, and more especially after a sen- 
tence with a verb in the imperative mood, " and'^ 
couples a sentence predicating a consequence of the 
leading one. 

Ex. : Take away the wicked from before the king, and his 
throne shall be established in righteousness. Ask, and you 
shall receive. 

The following words couple simple sentences in a 
sense somewhat similar to " and : " also, besides, even, 
likewise, moreover, too. 

Also, likewise, too, severally attach a second sentence, 
adding to the force of the first ; they rarely precede their 



COMPLEX SENTENCES. 105 

sentence, but may occupy various positions from the 
second to the last word in it. 

Ex. : The young lady plays the harp : she also sings delight- 
fully. That artist has considerable talent : his manners 
are likewise very unassuming. Our poor neighbour is 
suffering from fever : her children are ill too. 

Even connects a following sentence as an especially 
enhancing addition to the preceding one. 

Ex. : The professor is very learned : he even reads Arabic. 

Even is frequently used to strengthen an expres- 
sion where the antecedent or major proposition is under- 
stood. 

Ex. : (All men are sinners) ; even the best men are sinners. 
(We must always speak the truth) ; even in jest we may 
not lie. 

Besides, moreover, connect a second sentence, commonly 
urging an objection in support of another objection alleged 
by the first sentence. 

Ex. : The man is too old for a dancing master ; besides, he is 
lame. The bonnet does not become the child ; the price, 
moreover, is exorbitant. 

While, as a conjunction, is employed in various senses. 
I will here give an instance where it is used in the sense of 
'* and," the motive being, apparently, to avoid the repetition 
of that word. 

Ex. : The state of society in large cities necessarily produces 
luxury, and luxury gives birth to avarice ; tohile avarice 
begets boldness, and boldness is the parent of depravity and 



Also, indeed, likewise, too, and other words that the pupil 
will find in the present work classed with conjunctions, are 
in our grammars and dictionaries called adverbs. A rigid 
analysis would, perhaps, prove that adverbs and conjunc- 
tions are in reality words of the same species ; but so long 
as they are regarded as separate parts of speech, it is de- 
sirable to have some clear principle, a reference to which 
may aid us in distinguishing them. Now the especial 
oflSce of a conjunction, as its name imports, is to connect 
clauses or sentences together; and a word, whose chief 
function is to direct attention to some other phrase or sen- 

Y 5 



106 CO-ORDINATELY COMBINED 

tence, whether antecedent or subsequent, so as to combine 
it in a certain relation with the phrase or sentence in which 
the word itself stands, I regard as a conjunction. The 
range of the adverb is confined to its own sentence, except 
in cases where, expressing comparison, it necessarily con- 
veys an imperfect idea, and requires to be followed by a 
complement to render its sense perfectly intelligible. But 
the consideration of compared adverbs belongs to that part 
of our subject treating of accessory sentences, and must 
therefore be deferred for the present. It is, perhaps, in- 
different whether such words as too, also, moreover, however, 
&c., be called adverbs or conjunctions ; but as they do not 
answer to the grammatical definition of an adverb, and as 
their peculiar office seems to be to link together more or 
less intimately independent propositions, I have classed 
them as conjunctions, considering as adverbs those words 
only, which are employed to express the circumstances of 
an action, or the degree of a quality. 

EXERCISE. 

Lesson 104. — Write twenty complex sentences, em- 
ploying in five of them each of the following co-ordinate 
conjunctions, and, also, too, even. 

Ex. : Judgments are prepared for scomers, and stripes for the 
back of fools. Virtue is admired by all men ; eve^i the 
wicked pay it homage. 

Lesson 105. — Write twenty similar sentences with the 
four following co-ordinate conjunctions : besides, likewise, 
moreover, while ; taking as matter of the sentence the uses 
of various animals, metals, &c. 

Ex. : The goose's body furnishes a dainty to our table, while 
its feathers form a bed for our repose. 

BUT. 

But couples the simple sentences of the complex 
sentence in an adverse relation, the one often predi- 
cating aiErmatively, the other negatively ; or the 
second sentence being restrictive of, or even incom- 
patible with or contradictory to, the first. 

Ex. : Calico is not made from flax, but cambric is. E-owing is 
a healthful exercise, but it is not free from danger. 



COMPLEX SENTENCES. 107 

The following co-ordinate conjunctions are pretty- 
nearly equivalents of "6m^;" however, nevertheless, 
now, only, still, whereas, while, yet. 

These words are so nearly synonymous that an individual 
consideration of them is superfluous ; we have already seen 
while as the equivalent of *' and;" and we here find it as a 
synonyme of "but.'" The following sentences contain 
instances of the several conjunctions just enumerated, 
which might, as the scholar will observe, be changed for 
each other without much affecting the sense. 

Ex. : The pigs have been in the garden ; the flowers, however ^ 
are not much injured. Yon man has no hands, nevertheless 
he paints portraits. Thomas blames the cat ; now he drank 
the milk himself. The groom would have been punished, 
only his master interceded for him. The elephant has a 
most inexpressive countenance ; still the animal possesses 
great sagacity. The prisoner feigns deafness, whereas he 
can hear perfectly well. Bread has risen in price, although 
wheat is cheaper. He aflects ignorance of the fact, while 
the others assert his cognizance of it. Mulberries are a 
refreshing fruit, yet many persons do not lilce them. 

EXERCISE. 

Lesson 106. — Write twenty complex sentences, with 
simple sentences coupled adversely by the following co- 
ordinate conjunctions : but, although, however, nevertheless, 
though, now. 

Ex. : Cats love fish, but they are poor anglers. 

Lesson 107. — Write twenty similar sentences, employing 
in four of them each of the following conjunctions: still, 
only, whereas, while, yet. 

Ex. : Truth needs few words, while a he cannot have enough. 

The conceived incompatibility or contradiction 
existing between the facts enounced in two sentences, 
relates to certain ideas expressed in their predicates ; 
and as the mind always seeks, even unconsciously, to 
render the principal idea, or master thought, as promi- 
nent as possible, we frequently find a term which 
expresses that idea of the predicate of the one sen- 
tence with which the other seems at variance, standing 



108 CO-ORDINATELY COMBINED 

at the head of its sentence, thus giving prominence to 
that idea, and, at the same time, advising the hearer 
that some proposition in contrast to it is about to 
follow. The attribute, which thus precedes its sub- 
ject and verb, is connected with them by the con- 
junction " as/" the sentence containing the antithesis 
being connected by the conjunctions nevertheless, still, 
which may, however, be omitted, and which, when 
employed, rarely stand at the head of their sentence, 
but are commonly the second or third word in it. 

Es. : Handless as that man is, he nevertheless paints portraits. 
Humble as is our lot, we are still contented. Rich as our 
neighbour is, still his society is little courted. Tyrant as he 
is, he may still punish tyranny in his servants. 

EXERCISE. 

Lesson 108. — Write twenty complex sentences, in which 
the attribute of the leading sentence precedes its subject 
and verb, and the conjoined sentence contains a conjunc- 
tion that you will enclose in a parenthesis, thus showing 
that it might be omitted. 

Ex. : Exalted as is his station in society, his pride is (never- 
theless) unbecoming. 

FOR. 

For connects a sentence, showing the ground of the 
judgment asserted in the preceding sentence with 
which it is coupled. 

Ea;. : Employ the present wisely, for the future is uncertain. 

The following co-ordinate conjunctions may be 
classed with "for,'' serving, as they do, to couple 
sentences, of which the second may be regarded as 
the cause or ground of the first : as, because, indeed, 
since. 

As, since, connect a sentence predicating a fact from 
which is inferred the judgment asserted by the other sen- 
tence. 

Ex. : As the day is so fine, we will walk to the village. The 
weather will change, since the mercury is rising. 



COMPLEX SENTENCES. 109 

Because connects a sentence asserting positively the 
cause or reason of the fact predicated by the other sen- 
tence with which it is conjoined. 

Ex. : The master gave us a holiday yesterday, because it was 
his birthday. 

Indeed connects a sentence narrating a fact, which, 
though not directly represented as the cause of the fact 
asserted by the other sentence, may yet be inferred to have 
contributed to it. 

Ex. : The enemy made but a feeble resistance : indeed the 
attack was wholly unexpected. 

EXERCISE. 

Lesson 109. — "Write twenty complex sentences, em- 
ploying in four of them successively each of the conjunc- 
tions just mentioned, namely, for, as, because, indeed. 



Ex. : The boy has been eating cherries, for his lips are stained. 
The barges cannot proceed, because the canal is frozen. 

THEREFORE. 

Therefore connects, in a complex sentence, two 
sentences, of which the second shows a consequence 
of the first. 

Ex. : The weather is j&ne, therefore the farmer is saving his 
hay. 

The following conjunctions are about the equi- 
valents of '^ therefore ;" consequently, hence, so, then. 

Consequently, so, may be regarded as the perfect synonymes 
of therefore, for which they might generally be substituted. 

E.r. : It blew a hurricane last night, consequently the mail has 
not arrived. The rain has filled the river, so the miller must 
open the sluice. 

Hence, as a conjunction, connects a sentence predicating 
an inference. 

Ex. : The wild fowl have arrived early, hence we may expect 
a severe Avinter. 

Then is employed in a sentence (frequently with a verb 



110 COMPLEX SENTENCES. 

in the imperative mood) which it connects emphatically, as 
expressing a desirable consequence of the fact or judgment 
asserted by the preceding sentence : then stands in the 
middle rather than at the head of the sentence to which it 
belongs. 

Ex. : Idleness is the parent of poverty and crime, let us then 
employ our time diligently. 



Lesson 1 10. — Write twenty complex sentences, connect- 
ing the simple sentences of which they are formed by the 
conjunctions therefore, consequently, hence, so, then. 

Ex. : The beggar perceived the constable, so he walked away. 
Lies bring shame ; avoid falsehood then, and always speak 
the truth. 

NOR. 

Nor couples a sentence negatively to a preceding 
sentence, which is frequently also negative. 

Ex. : The vessel has not arrived, nor do the owners expect 
her. 

Neither is the perfect equivalent of nor. 

Ex. : The fox is not used for food, neither is its skin valuable 
as fur. 

EXERCISE. 

Lesson 111. — Write twenty complex sentences, employ- 
ing the conjunctions nor, neither. 

Ex. : A scomer loveth not reproof, neither will he go unto the 
wise. 

OR. 

Or connects two sentences, of which the latter com- 
monly asserts an alternative of the fact expressed by 
the first ; it is also frequently used to connect inter- 
rogative sentences. 

Ex. : Learn your lessons, or you will be punished. Have you 
heard from your brother, or do you expect a letter ? 

Else, otherioise, are equivalents of '^ or ,*" they are 
indeed frequently preceded by the latter conjunction, 
which should however be omitted. 



DOUBLE CONJUNCTIONS. 



Ill 



Ex. : The windows must be closed, otherwise th.e frost will kill 
tlie plants. Thou desirest not sacrifice, else would I give it 
thee. 

EXERCISE. 

Lesson 112. — Write twenty co-ordinately-combined com- 
plex sentences, employing as connectives the conjunctions 
or, else, otherwise. 

Ex. : Help me with my exercise, else I shall be too late. A 
boatman rowed to his assistance, otherwise he would have 
been drowned. 



SECTION III. 
OF DOUBLE CONJUNCTIONS. 

Conjunctions, and indeed connectives generally, 
may be conceived as consisting of two parts ; the one 
prospective, preparing the hearer for something that 
is to follow, the other retrospective, or relative, answer- 
ing to the first, and satisfying the expectation raised 
by it : they are the links that bind in a continuous 
chain the facts enunciated in discourse ; and though 
in animated narration they may sometimes be dis- 
pensed with, in argument and reasoning, where facts 
are assumed, consequences deduced, and other subtle 
operations of the mind employed, they are indis- 
pensable to the gradual and just development of 
thought. The Greek, perhaps the most polished lan- 
guage ever spoken, the language of a people who 
delighted and excelled in the subtlest reasoning, 
abounds more than any other in connective particles, 
a duplex conjunction being employed in the most 
simply-combined propositions. With us, who are 
great economists of words, the leading member of the 
conjunction is frequently omitted ; but, although its 
presence occasionally renders the expression some- 
what formal, it may generally be supplied without 
gravely offending the ear. 

The following list exhibits the antecedent and rela- 



112 



DOUBLE CONJUNCTIONS. 



tive members of some of the chief co-ordinate con- 
junctions : in the consideration of the subordinate 
conjunctions, frequent illustrations of the duplex cha- 
racter of this class of words will occur. 



both . 
as well 
indeed 
either . 



and 

as 

but 



neither . . . nor 
although . . yet, still, nevertheless 
not only . "1 but also, too, like- 
not merely, &c. j" wise, &c. 



Both . . . and, place the ideas which they connect 
upon a perfect equality. As the antecedent member both 
is also a numeral indicating the number two, it cannot be 
employed conjunctively where more than two phrases are 
connected, without offending our notions of propriety. In 
some languages, as the Latin or the French, the connection, 
which we aifect by the conjunction " both," is accomplished 
by the repetition of the conjunction " and," so that several 
phrases may be thus united without exciting an idea of 
incongruity : with us, where more than two phrases are 
to be connected, the leading joint of the conjunction is 
omitted. 

As well . . .as. This conjunction couples clauses in 
the same sense as " and," but gives a certain prominence to 
the leading phrase. 

Both . . . and, as well . , .as, are only employed 
to connect members of a Compound Sentence (see Chap. 
III. Sect. I.) ; they cannot be used to combine simple sen- 
tences in a complex sentence. '•' Both" always precedes its 
clause, but " as well" commonly follows the clause which 
it connects with the clause following the subsequent "as," 
though it is occasionally found preceding it ; thus, he as well 
as his brother ; or, as well he as his brother came, &c. 

Indeed . . . but. Indeed is not peculiarly the ante- 
cedent of but, for it is used before several other conjunc- 
tions, and merely intimates that the proposition in the 
course of enunciation is not an independent one, and thus 
prepares the hearer for a following sentence, having refer- 
ence to, and modifying in some way, the judgment pro- 
nounced in the leading one. Other expletives, as truly, 
verily, were formerly employed from a similar motive, 
though now nearly obsolete; but indeed is of frequent 
recurrence. 



DOUBLE CONJUNCTIONS. 113 

Ex. : Indeed the wise men of the world stood neuter, but, alas ! 
their numbers were not considerable. 

Either . . or, generally couple the one sentence as the 
alternative of the other, but the leading member ** either " 
is not always used. 

Ex. : Either the present possessors must be indemnified, or a 
great injustice will be committed. Either go yourself, or 
send a messenger. 

Neither . . . nor, couple negatively the phrases of a 
compound sentence upon a complete equality. When used 
to connect simple sentences in a complex one, they require 
the order of the words to be somewhat inverted in the 
second sentence, the auxiliary verb coming before its nomi- 
native as in an interrogation. 

Ejc. : The dog neither ate the hay himself, nor would he let the 
ox eat it. 

Although (though) . . . yet, still, nevertheless. When 
this leading conjunction is expressed, it prepares us for a 
following sentence restrictive of an inference that might be 
drawn from the first. 

Ex. : Although he is learned, yet is he modest. Though forty 
rivers discharge themselves into this lake, still it is never 
ftdl. 

If the seemingly incompatible fact be announced first, 
the leading sentence will not be preceded by a conjunction. 

Es. : He is modest, althou{/h he is learned. 

Not only, (not merely, not alone, hc.J . , , hut also, 
(but too, hut likewise, Slc.J The simple conjunction " hut" 
serves to couple adverse or seemingly incompatible propo- 
sitions ; but the compound conjunctions just enumerated 
couple ideas in a concurrent sense, and are equivalent to 
"and." They are more commonly employed in compound 
than in complex sentences, in which latter they sometimes 
have an awkward effect. When employed, the terms of the 
latter member of the conjunction require to be separated 
by the interposition of one or more words, " but " indeed 
being frequently omitted. 

This review of the co-ordinate conjunctions, though 



114 DOUBLE CONJUNCTIONS. 

incomplete, will, it is hoped, enable a student to ac- 
count for the construction of any co-ordinately com- 
bined complex sentence that he may meet with in 
reading. In determining the character of a word, 
let him regard only the functions that it discharges in 
the sentence under consideration ; for the same word 
may, in another sentence, play quite a different part. 
When we meet with a word or expression, whose 
grammatical value is equivocal, we may mostly, by 
writing the sentence without the term in question, 
discover the end for which it was introduced, and this 
dicovery will determine its character. 

EXERCISE, 

Lesson 113. — Write twenty complex sentences, con- 
necting the simple sentences composing them by one or 
other of the compound conjunctions just explained. 

Ex. : He shall not strive nor cry, neither shall any man hear 
his voice in the streets. Although the captain is lame, he is 
nevertheless a great pedestrian. 

Principal sentences may be, and frequently are, so 
arranged, that certain relations are understood with- 
out the aid of connectives. In animated narration, 
especially, if the facts be succinctly told, the absence 
of conjunctions adds life to the picture. 

The simple sentences of a co-ordinately combined 
complex sentence are separated by a semicolon (;) 
but where they are short, are intimately connected in 
idea, or united by the conjunctions "a;20?," ''or" 
and some others, we frequently find them divided by 
a comma only, or even without any division whatever. 
Punctuation seems frequently employed to indicate 
pauses in reading, rather than to mark the grammatical 
construction. 



COMPLEX SENTENCES. 115 



SECTION lY. 

OF SUBORDINATEIiY-COMBINED 
COMFIiEX SBNTBNCES. 

The consideration of subordinately-combined com- 
plex sentences embraces grammatical principles of far 
higher importance than those connected with the co- 
ordinately combined complex sentences already treated 
of: — principles, an intimate knowledge of which is 
indispensable to correct expression in every language ; 
involving, as they do, the whole theory of Relatives, 
of Infinitives, of the Subjunctive Mood, &c., sub- 
jects connected with the most abstruse and difficult 
points of the science of grammar, and therefore de- 
manding the earnest attention of the student who 
aspires to become a linguist. 

As we have seen, a co-ordinately combined com- 
plex sentence consists of at least two principal sen- 
tences, connected by one of a class of words called 
co-ordinate conjunctions, or the relation between them 
being so evident as to be understood merely fi:om 
their being placed in juxta-position. When,, however, 
a complex sentence consists of a principal and au 
accessory sentence, it is a Subordinately-combined 
Complex Sentence; and, if connected by a con- 
junction, one of a class called Subordinate Con- 
junctions is used. 

When, in order to the accurate expression of our 
thoughts, we thus connect one sentence in a subor- 
dinate relation to another, the judgment that we 
would more especially pronounce is always expressed 
by the principal sentence, the accessory sentence de- 
pending on some member of the principal one, of 
which latter indeed it may be regarded as being 
merely a member or clause. 

The accessory sentence may stand in one of four 
distinct relations to the principal sentence, namely. 



116 KELATIYE SENTENCES. 

that of Subject, Complement, Addition, or Cir- 
cumstance, and I shall, therefore, in order to their 
due consideration, divide them into four classes, as 
follow : — 

1. Nominative Sentences. (Subject.) 

2. Accusative Sentences. (Complement.) 

3. Attributive Sentences. (Addition.) 

4. Adverbial Sentences. (Circumstance.) 

Accessory sentences are here ranged in the order in 
which we considered the corresponding memliers of the 
simple sentence ; but as it will better accord with the gra- 
dual development of the mechanism of complicated sen- 
tences, I shall commence the explanation of subordinate 
sentences with the consideration of those of the third class. 
Accessory Attributive Sentences ; previously to which, how- 
ever, it is necessary to make a few observations upon two 
subjects whose consideration has been hitherto deferred, 
namely, The Relative Tenses, and The Subjunctive Mood, 



SECTION V. 
OF THE RELATIVE TENSES. 

We have seen (Chap. I., Sect. VIII.), that the 
English verb has six forms or Tenses serving to 
express various relations of time ; four of which, the 
Present, the Perfect Indefinite, the Perfect Definite, 
and the Future Tenses, having no necessary relation 
to any other time than that of speaking, were called 
Absolute Tenses, 

The consideration of the other two tenses, which 
are commonly used only when speaking of a fact as 
having a certain relation of time to some time other 
than that of speaking (the present), and which are 
therefore called Relative Tenses, was deferred till 
the explanation of more complicated forms of ex- 
pression should place the pupil in a position to 



COMPLIiX TENSES. 117 

exemplify their use. As it is in complex sentences 
that these relative tenses are chiefly employed, the 
present seems an apt stage of our progress to recur to 
a consideration of them. 
The Relative Tenses are, 

1. The Pluperfect Tense. 

2. The Future Perfect Tense. 

The Pluperfect Tense speaks of an action not 
only past, but anterior to some other epoch also past, 
and which, though not always expressed, is clearly 
understood. It is formed by the auxiliary verb of 
time " Aa<i," and the perfect participle of the verb in 
either voice. 

Ex. : The intruder had not been long in the palace, before he 
was discovered by the guards. When we had got within 
half a mile of Moulins, I discovered Maria sitting under a 
poplar. The child had lost its way, and was weeping 
bitterly. The major had been ill-used by the government. 

The Future Perfect Tense predicates of an 
event which, though future, will yet be anterior to 
some other future event spoken of. It is expressed 
by the future tense of the auxiliary verb have, which 
tense is itself a compound form, " shall have, " 

ivill have^ 

Ex. : We shall have dined before the coach arrives. He will 
have written six pages when the clock strikes twelve. 
When Christmas comes I shall have been six years at 
school. 

The student may observe, that the second event spoken 
of in these sentences, although clearly a future one, is ex- 
pressed by the present tense. 



118 SUBJUNCTIVE MOOD. 

SECTION YI. 
OF THE SUBJUNCTIVE MOOD. 

In every sentence illustrative of tlie rules hitherto 
given the verb has predicated positively, whether the 
expression were affirmative, or negative, indicative, im- 
perative, or potential ; and where interrogative a ques- 
tion has been put directly. Two sentences are, however, 
frequently connected in a subordinately combined com- 
plex sentence, of which the one asserts nothing, but 
merely conveys the idea of a conceived action or state 
of being, to which the fact directly asserted by the 
other sentence has some reference. When a sentence, 
not asserting, though expressing, an imaginary or hypo- 
thetical fact, is thus joined to a second sentence (which 
it must always be if employed at all, for it conveys of 
itself no complete sense), it shows in some sort the 
ground or origin of the judgment expressed by such 
second sentence, and is an accessory sentence to the 
one with w^hich it is coupled, and which is the prin- 
cipal member of the complex sentence. 

It is in accessory sentences of this kind that we 
commonly meet with the peculiar form of the verb 
called the Subjunctive Mood; a form that, as its 
name imports, is only used in a sentence subjected or 
subjoined to another sentence. This is a point of 
grammar, which, though little regarded, and perhaps 
of little consequence in English, occupies a very im- 
portant place in the grammars of other languages ; 
in the study of which the pupil, who can at a glance 
determine whether one sentence be co-ordinate with- 
or subordinate to another, or, in other words, can dis- 
tinguish between a principal sentence and an acces- 
sory one, will be capable of appreciating justly many 
grammatical peculiarities that are beyond the ken of 
one incapable of making the distinction. 

One or two examples of the subjunctive mood will 



STJBJXJNCTIVE MOOD. 119 

give tlie student sucli an idea of its use as will be 
sufficient for his present wants. 

If you he diligent you will succeed. 

Here I assert nothing about your diligence ; but, con- 
ceiving the possibility that you may exhibit that virtue, I 
then judge that a certain result will follow, and assert 
positively that success will be the consequence ; the actuality 
of the latter fact being, however, (in my mind), wholly de- 
pendent on the contingency expressed by the first sentence. 

Let him that standeth take heed lest he fall. 

Here again it is not asserted that any one will fall, but, 
under a sentiment of human weakness, a warning is given 
to be watchful against a contingent, but too probable, evU. 

As before remarked, little attention is paid in English to 
this form of expression ; we frequently find facts that are 
clearly supposititious asserted positively, and, a still graver 
fault, facts of whose reality the speaker has, no doubt, 
expressed as though they were assumed or questionable. 
A notable instance of the latter fault occurs in the transla- 
tion of St. Paul's Epistle to the Hebrews, c. 5, v. 8, where, 
speaking of the Redeemer, the apostle is made to say, 
" Though he were a son yet learned he obedience." It 
would be exceedingly difficult, if not impossible, to account 
rationally for the employment of the subjunctive mood 
in any language, for, in all, the rules that govern its use 
seem very capricious; all that can commonly be told is_, 
that certain verbs and conjunctions require that the verb 
of an accessory sentence be put into that mood. 

As frequent occasions will arise, in the consideration of 
accessory sentences^ for recurrence to this mood, it is need- 
less to enlarge further upon it here j except, perhaps, to 
remark that, although this form of the verb can only occur 
in an accessory sentence, the pupil is not to suppose that 
every such sentence necessarily has it verb in this mood. 

After these cursory remarks upon the relative tenses and 
the subjunctive mood, let us now proceed to the consi- 
deration of the various kinds of accessory sentences. 



120 ACCESSORY SENTENCES. 



SECTION VII. 

OF ACCXISSORV ATTRIBUTIVB 
SBNTENCES. REIiATIVB PRONOUNS. 

We very commonly limit or determine the sense of 
a substantive that names an object of which we are 
speaking, by the mention of some fact having relation 
to it, other than the fact which forms the matter of the 
proposition or sentence that we are uttering. Every 
sentence employed in this manner to define a sub- 
stantive, or a personal or demonstrative pronoun, or 
any other word representing a substantive, is an 
Accessory Attributive Sentence, and is, in a 
complex sentence, exactly that which addition is in 
an extended simple sentence. 

Accessory attributive sentences are connected with 
their principal sentences in various ways. The junc- 
tion of the two sentences is very commonly effected 
by one of a peculiar class of words called Relative 
Pronouns. A perfect acquaintance with the pro- 
perties of relative pronouns (which have been called 
by some grammarians conjunctive pronouns^ from their 
peculiar office of connecting sentences) is so essential 
to correct expression in every language, that I shall, 
even at the risk of being charged with tediousness, 
enter into very minute details of those properties. 

1. When the word of the principal sentence that 
the accessory sentence defines, and which is termed 
the Antecedent of the relative pronoun, indicates a 
person, the sentences are connected by the relative pro- 
nouns " who,^^ " that,^^ both of which make ^^ ivhose " 
(written for who's) in the genitive case, and '' ivhom " 
or " that " in the accusative. 

Ex. : A talkative man keeps few secrets = a man, who is talka- 
tive, keeps few secrets. Milton, whose poems are so admired, 
was blind. The artist, whom we saw, paints miniatures. 
A person that lies, is despised. A friend that we can trust, 
should be prized. The Lollards, of whom we read, were a 



RELATIVE PRONOUNS. 121 

religious sect. Columbus, by whom A?nerica was discovered^ 
was a Genoese. Napier, to whom we owe logarithms^ was a 
Scotchman. The Britons, with whom- Ccesar contended, de- 
fended their country bravely. The}-, who are rich, should 
help the poor. 

2. If the antecedent, or word of the principal sen- 
tence defined by the accessory one, indicates a thing, 
the two sentences are joined by the relative pronouns 
" tvhich/^ ^'that,'^ both which may be found with 
" lohose " for the genitive case ; but when in the 
accusative, the form is the same as in the nominative. 

Ex. : A rolling stone gathers no moss. A stone, which rolls, 
gathers no moss. The house, which is divided against itself, 
shall fall. A horse, whose knees are broken, is of little value. 
The book, lohich I am reading, contains much valuable in- 
formation. The salmon, which my brother caught, v/eighs 
twelve pounds. The cup, from which you are drinking, is a 
beautiful specimen of art. The picture, at which you are 
looking, is by Rubens. The fox broke the chain, by which he 
was confined. Men make vices of the pleasures, which they 
cannot enjoy, and virtues of the infirmities, to which they are 
subject. The diiference that is found in the notions of man- 
kind, arises from the different uses to which they put their 
faculties. 

The relative pronoun is of the same Number, Gen- 
der, and Person as its antecedent, but its Case depends 
entirely upon the functions that it fulfils in its own 
sentence. 

If the relative is the subject or nominative of its sentence, 
the verb agrees with it in number and person, which pro- 
perties, as just observed, it derives from its antecedent. 
Thus, in " I, who am here, will," &c., who is of the first 
person and singular number ; in " we, who are,'' &c., it is 
of the first person and plural number. In " thou, who art,'' 
&c., and " you, who are," &c., who is of the second person, 
and of the singular or plural number after that of its ante- 
cedent. In "he, who is," &c., "they, who are,'' &c., vv^ho 
is of the third person, like its antecedents, its number de- 
pending on the number of the latter, and its gender in all 
cases being also determined by that of the antecedent. 
The student will observe that the verb varies in number 
and person to agree with the corresponding changes of the 
relative. 



122 ACCESSORY SENTENCES. 

If the relative sentence define the antecedent by some 
attribute of property, the substantive that names the thing 
possessed exercises the usual influence of a substantive thus 
employed, and is said to govern the relative pronoun in the 
genitive case, its number, gender, and person still depend- 
ing upon those of the antecedent. Thus, in "I, whose 
friendship you invoke, am," &c., whose is governed in the 
genitive case by friendship, but is of the first person sin- 
gular number, and of the gender of the speaker. In " v^e, 
by whose aid you succeeded, are neglected," whose, 
governed in the genitive by aid (which is itself governed in 
the accusative by the preposition hy), is of the first person 
plural, its gender again depending upon that of the ante- 
cedent we. In " they reviled him, whose name had been 
their rallying cry," the genitive case of the relative is of 
the singular num.ber masculine gender and third person, 
like its antecedent " him.'* In the sentence " he was 
imprisoned by the queen, to whose hand he aspired," the 
genitive ** whose," governed in that case by *' hand," is of 
the singular number feminine gender and third person, 
agreeing with its antecedent " queen ;" and so of any other 
examples of the genitive case of the relative that the pupil 
may meet with. 

The relative is frequently governed directly in the accu- 
sative case by the verb of its own sentence, its number, 
gender, and person still depending on those of its ante- 
cedent. In "I, whom he consulted, am inexperienced," 
whom, of the first person singular number and gender of 
the speaker, is governed in the accusative case by the 
transitive verb '^ consulted." In "we, whom you suspect, 
are innocent," ivhom, governed by " suspect " in the ac- 
cusative, takes its number, gender and person from " we." 
In " you, whom he formerly flattered, are now the objects 
of his dislike," whom, in the accusative case, is of the 
second person plural, agreeing with " you," with which it 
also accords in gender. In " the gentleman, to whom you 
spoke, is a distinguished sculptor," whom, governed in the 
accusative case indirectly through the preposition to, is of 
third person singular number and masculine gender, agree- 
ing with its antecedent " gentleman." 

Who is of both niimbers, but of the masculine and 
feminine genders only : when the antecedent repre- 



RELATIVE PUONOUNS. 123 

sents an object of the neuter gender , we commonly 
employ the relative " which." This word, used in the 
nominative and accusative cases, may be regarded as 
the neuter form of who, lohom, but it is not employed 
in the genitive, whose being commonly employed 
even when the antecedent is of the neuter gender. 
Which, like who, is of both numbers, and as its ante- 
cedent must be a substantive, it is always of the third 
person. 

In 'Hhe picture, which pleases you so much, is by Claude," 
which is of the singular number, neuter gender, and third 
person, agreeing with "picture." In " the packet, whose 
arrival I am so anxiously awaiting, is in sight/' whose, in 
the genitive case, is of the number, gender, and person of 
the antecedent ^'packet." In " the verses which you have 
written possess great merit," which, governed in the accu- 
sative case by '' written,'^ is of the plural number, neuter 
gender^ and third person, agreeing with its antecedent 
*' verses. "" In *' the roads hy which we travelled are very 
mountainous," which, agreeing in gender, number, and 
person with its antecedent "roads," is governed in the 
accusative case by the preposition " hy.'' 

That, as a relative pronoun, is of both numbers 
and of all three genders, and all three persons. 

That may be either in the nominative or accusative case, 
but in the latter position it cannot follow a preposition, 
which must, where the government is effected indirectly, 
be transferred to the end of the sentence. It is unneces- 
sary to give further examples of the relative at present, 
unless it be an instance of "that" governed indirectly: 
" the dog that you shot at, has returned ;" here the relative 
" that" is governed in the accusative case by the preposi- 
tion "at," which, however, cannot precede the relative, as 
it could had " which " been employed. 

The relative pronoun is almost always the first word 
in its own sentence, except, when governed by a pre- 
position, it follows a substantive whose sense it re- 
stricts or determines. 

G 2 



124 ACCESSORY SENTENCES. 

A ready perception of the grammatical relations of num- 
ber, gender, person, and case of the relative pronoun, is 
perhaps scarcely attainable in English, where its changes of 
form are but few. In the Latin, where the relative is of 
more frequent recurrence than in our own language, the 
pupil may speedily arrive at a clear comprehension of the 
sympathy that exists between this term and its antecedent. 
The Latin relative has three distinct forms for the genders 
in the nominative and accusative cases of both numbers ; 
and though in the singular there is but one form of the 
genitive for all the genders, yet as this case, in the plural, 
possesses a distinct form for the feminine gender, its accord 
with its antecedent in number and gender may be shown 
in this case also. 

The relative pronouns who, which, that, are of both 
numbers, and are thus declined. 



JVominative 


who 


which 


that 


Genitive 


whose 


whose 


whose 


Accusative 


whom 


which 


that 



EXERCISE. 

Lesson 114. — Form complex sentences from the follow- 
ing simple sentences by changing the addition in each, 
printed in italics, into an accessory attributive sentence ; 
and take care to underline each accessory sentence. 

The lost sheep lias been found. A reluctantly rendered service 
awakens little gratitude. The doctor has bought a blind 
horse. A net xoith large meshes will not catch small fish. 
We have just met the newly -mo.rried couple. Can you lend 
me a sharp knife ? The rich man has many friends. Avoid 
the society of vicious men. The party then attacked a 
stronyly -fortified outwork. I want a needle with a larger cye^ 

Ex. : The sheep that loas lost has been found. 

Write such of the above sentences as will admit of it 
with the antecedents in the plural number, taking care to 
make the requisite changes in the accessory sentences. 

Lesson 115. — Take any book, as your Bible, the History 
of England, Rasselas, &c., and find twelve sentences in 
which an addition may thus be converted into an accessory 
attributive sentence. 



RELATIVE PRO^'OUNS. 125 

Ex. : He compared reason to a meteor of bright but transitory/ 
ltistre=llle compared reason to a meteor, whose lustre is 
bright but transitory. 

Lesson 116. — Write twelve sentences, of which the 
subjects are to be the personal pronouns in both numbers, 
each pronoun being determined by an accessory attributive 
sentence connected by a relative pronoun in either of the 



Ex. : I, tcho have been the victiyn of his cunning, can easily ex- 
plain the fratid. Wilt thou, against xohom force was power- 
less, yield to flattery? He, that hates truth, shall be the 
dupe of hes. 

Lesson 117. — Write twelve similar complex sentences, 
in which the respective personal pronouns, in the accusative 
case, are determined by accessory attributive sentences. 

Ex. : He has taken the book ffom me, to whom it belonged. 
Give the prize to her, tvhose exercise has the feicest faults. 

Remark. — The sentences connected by relative 
pronouns are not ahvays attributive sentences_, em- 
ployed to determine the sense in which the antecedent 
substantive is used. In enunciating several facts, of 
which one may be considered as conducive to or 
causal of the other, we frequently find the less import- 
ant assertion conveyed in a relative sentence, instead 
of being coupled by a conjunction. 

Ex. : His women considered me as a rival, and looked on me 
with malignity. His women, xcho considered me as a rival, 
looked on me with malignity. 

EXERCISE. 

Lesson 118. — Take the following sentences two by two, 
and connect them in complex sentences by the aid of 
relative pronouns. 

Nothing can atone for the want of modesty. Without mo- 
desty beauty is ungraceful and wit detestable. 

The expansive force of steam was first rendered subservient 
to mechanical purposes in England. The motive capabi- 
Hties of steam were unknown to the ancients. 

The steam-engine is a powerful auxiliary to manufactures. 
The steam-engine has superseded manual laboiu- in many 
operations. 



126 ACCESSORY SENTENCES. 

The Swedish turnip is a nutritious food for all kinds of cattle. 

The Swedish turnip grows to the weight of ten, fifteen, 

and even twenty pounds. 
The diamond, in its rough state, exhibits little brilliancy. By 

cutting and polishing, the splendid radiance of the diamond 

is displayed. 
The art of writing contributes much to the convenience of 

mankind. The art of writing was not invented all at 

once. 
Affectation is apparent hypocrisy ; it has its origin in vanity. 
Pecuniary dependence naturally degrades the mind, and 

depraves the heart. Pecuniary dependence is the most 

humiliating of any. 
Logwood comes from Campeachy. Logwood is extensively 

used in dying. 
Two boats were launched over the vessel's side. These boats 

were then stored with provisions. 
The child carried the bonnet home. The child found a bonnet 

on the bank of the canal. 
Our new church stands near the bridge. It wiU be conse- 
crated next week. 

EXEKCISE. 

Lesson 119. — Find accessory sentences appropriate to 
the words printed in italics in the following sentences, and 
connect the two by a relative pronoun. 

Ex. : Man madly arms himself for his own ruin. Man, who 
can be happy only by peace, madly arms himself for his own 
ruin. 

All mankind must taste the bitter cup. The nobles refused to 
protect him. The garden yields no fruit. The wise man 
despises honours. Shall he'^ command others ? The fruit 
will fall. The gravel has been sifted. "We love those. The 
ship has been seized. The troops refused to march. The 
ma7i has been committed to prison. He was on his way to 
the fair. The task is a difficult one. He vriU be dis- 
appointed. 

Form twelve such sentences yourself. 

3. Let us now consider a third method of definition 
by an accessory sentence. When the substantive in 
the principal sentence that is defined by the accessory 
one indicates a time, place, cause, or manner, the 
sentences may be connected by the relative pronouns 
" lohen,'' "^ ivhence,^' " whither,''' " why,'' " where," 
and various compound forms of the last word, whereat, 
whereby, &c. 



RELATIVE PRONOUNS. 127 

Ex.: The place where Homer was born, is unknown. The 
time when Homer lived is uncertain. America is the 
country tohence potatoes were brought to Europe. A penal 
settlement is a colony whither convicted felons are trans- 
ported. The house wherein Shakspeare was bom is stOl 
standing. Can you explain the cause why a stone sinks in 
water? Hemp is the material wAereo/" ropes are made. The 
sickle is an implement wherewith reapers cut corn. There 
is one case \oherein some of these rules may be dispensed 
with. 

These relatives, which always express a circumstance, 
are by some grammarians classed as adverbs ; but when, as 
in the instances just given, they are preceded by a sub- 
stantive which they represent, and which is therefore their 
antecedent, I follow the example of modern foreign 
grammarians, and rank them as relative pronouns. 

The relative which, preceded by a preposition, is 
always equivalent to the relative where, combined 
with the same preposition; and although the latter 
form has now become antiquated, the one expression 
may be substituted for the other without affecting the 
sense. 

Ex.: The cup /row which (or wherefrorn) you are drinking is 
a beautiful specimen of art. The picture at which (or 
whereat) you are looking is by Kubens. 

And all the accessory sentences connected by the 
relatives, mentioned in the preceding paragraph 3, 
may be equally well connected by the relative which 
and a preposition. 

Ex. : The place in which Homer was born is unknown. The 
time in which Homer lived, &c. The country from which 
potatoes, &c. A penal settlement is a colony to which^ &c. 

" Whereof^'' is sometimes the equivalent of the 
genitive case " whose P 

Ex.: There is a river, the streams whereof {whose streams) 
shall make glad the city of God. 



EXERCISE. 

Lesson 120. — Write twelve complex sentences, in each 
of which a substantive is determined by an accessory 



128 ACCESSORY SENTENCES. 

sentence connected by one or other of the relative 
pronouns enumerated under paragraph 3. 

i:x. : At the time when Caesar landed in England the inhabit- 
ants were barbarians. Show me the place where the 
accident happened. Lay hold on eternal life, tvhereunto 
thou art also called. 

4. When the object in the principal sentence that 
is to be defined, by the accessory one^ is either ex- 
pressed or determined by the demonstrative " such^^ 
the word "as" is employed as a relative pronoun, 
and may be either the subject, or the direct or indirect 
complement, of the accessory verb ; but in the latter 
case the preposition by which the indirect govern- 
ment is effected, must stand at the end of the sen- 
tence. After the demonstrative '^sa??2e," we fre- 
quently find "as" employed as a relative pronoun ; 
but this demonstrative preferably admits after it the 
ordinary relatives already mentioned, a construction 
that cannot follow "^z^cA." 

Ex. : Such as I have I give unto thee. Many went away ; 
but such as chose remained. These are not such goods as I 
spoke to you about. Slaves have the same sense pf pleasure 
or pain as their masters have. That is the same dog as bit 
the child yesterday, 

EXERCiSfi. 

Lesson 121. — ^Write twelve complex sentences, in each 
of which such or same are followed by an accessory sen- 
tence coupled by the relative "as." 

JBic. ; He enrolled such as presented themselves. She has on 
the same dress as she wore at the ball. 

5. "When an abstract substantive in a principal 
sentence is determined by an accessory sentence 
explanatory of its sense, the union of the two sen- 
tences is frequently effected by the conjunctions 
''that',' '' whether r 

Ex. : The belief, that there is an eternal life, is very consola- 
tory. The consciousness, that we are responsible agents, 
should govern all our actions. The reflection, that our 
earthhj sufferings are transitory, should cheer us in affliction. 



RELATIVE PRONOUNS. 129 

The question, xoheiher there are ghosts, can be answered 
affirmatively by no rational being. The doubt, whether the 
vessel could be kept afloat, caused some hesitation. 

EXERCISE. 

Lesson 122. — Write twelve complex sentences^ each 
containing an accessory sentence explanatory of the sense 
attached to a substantive of the principal sentence, using as 
connectives the conjunctions, that, whether. 

Ex. : The fear that his advice might he scoffed at, kept the lad 
silent. 

6. We may find joined to a principal sentence^ an 
accessory one that does not relate to a particular sub- 
stantive^ but to the whole predicate, considered sub- 
stantively, of the principal sentence. Accessory 
sentences of this kind are joined to the principal one 
by the relative " ivhich'^ with or without a prepo- 
sition, or by the relative ^^ ivhereby,'' &c. 

Ex. : The doctor has invited a large party, ^ohich has greatly 
displeased his xoife; i. e. which invitation of a large party 
has greatly displeased his wife. The lad had lost a shilling, 

for which his father punished him severely. He had speculated 
largely in corn, whereby he had become embarrassed. The 
farmer has drained his land, which has much increased its 

fertility. 

In sentences like these, " ichich " always admits 
after it a substantive, the equivalent in meaning of 
the predicating verb that serves as the antecedent of 
the relative. 

Ex.: The boy had lost a shilling, for which loss, &c. The 
farmer has drained his land, which draining, &c. 

EXERCISE. 

Lesson 123. — Write twelve complex sentences, in 
which an accessory sentence expresses some fact resulting 
from the act predicated in the leading sentence. 

Ex. : The lad told an untruth, tvhich gravely offended his 
master. The women instantly stood up, iv/iich overset the 
boat. 

g5 



130 ACCESSORY SENTENCES. 

Highly elliptical as is our national idiom generally, 
it is perhaps in accessory attributive sentences that 
this figure (ellipsis) is most frequent : the omission of 
the relative being so common with us that we seem, 
in many cases, unconscious of its absence. I will 
point out some of the instances wherein this omission 
of the relative and other words connected with it 
appears permissible, and then call the pupil's atten- 
tion to others in which it would be better were the 
ellipsis avoided. 

An accessory sentence united to its principal sen- 
tence by a relative pronoun, admits ellipsis of the 
latter and its verb. 

1. If the accessory sentence, of which the relative 
is the subject or nominative, contain in the predicate 
a substantive expressing luhat the antecedent of the 
relative is. 

Ex. : "Wolsey, (who was) the son of a butclier at Ipswich., be- 
came a cardinal. Arsenic, (which is) one of the most 
deadly poisons, is a mineral. Grammar, (which is) a highly 
important science, treats of the principles of language. The 
court condemned Strafford, (who was) the favourite minister 
of Charles the First, to death. The garrison has retired 
to the citadel, (which is) a fortress situated upon a preci- 
pitous rock. 

In sentences like these the substantive, which, before the 
ellipsis, stood as the attribute of the accessory sentence in 
the nominative case, must, when the relative and its verb 
are omitted, be in the same case as the antecedent of the 
relative, which is that substantive of the principal sentence 
that the accessory sentence defines. In the first three 
examples just given, the ellipses cause no change in the 
case of the following substantives ; but in the last two sen- 
tences the substantives " minister,'' "fortress," which, 
before the ellipsis, were in the nominative case (for the 
pupil will recollect that the verb to he takes the same case 
after it as before it, and here the relative is its subject or 
nominative), after the omission of the relative will be in 
the accusative case, agreeing respectively with the sub- 
stantives " Strafford," " citadel." This agreement or con- 
cord in case, of substantives that signify the same thing, 
is called Apposition. 



RELATIVE PRONOUNS. 131 



Lesson 124. — Take your Bible, or any other English 
book, and seek twelve instances of substantives in apposi- 
tion, and then write them out, supplying a relative pronoun 
and verb so as to convert the defining phrase into an 
accessory attributive sentence ; and take care to underline 
the words thus introduced. 

Ex. : And Abishai, who was the brother of Joab, was chief 
among three. The swan, which is confessedly a beautiful 
bird, has a neck longer than the rest of his body. 

Lesson 125. — Seek twelve complex sentences in which, 
by ellipsis of the relative and its verb, a substantive in the 
predicate of the accessory sentence would be brought into 
apposition with a substantive of the principal sentence; 
and enclose the relative and its verb in a parenthesis, thus 
showing the contemplated ellipsis. 

Ex. : The base, (which is J a cubical block of marble, rests on 
two layers of stone. 

Every substantive, defined by another substantive and 
preposition circumstantial of place, admits the introduction 
of a relative pronoun, thus converting the definitive clause 
into an accessory sentence ; or, on the contrary, where the 
relative has been introduced, it may, if desired, be ex- 
punged. 

Ex. : For the Jews (tliat were) at Shushan gathered them- 
selves together on the fourteenth day. 

2. If an accessory sentence, defining a substantive 
of the principal sentence, has for the attribute of its 
predicate a governing adjective, or an adjective that 
is itself defined, ellipsis of the relative is common. 

Ex. : A man, (who is) devoid of gratitude, is unworthy of 
pity. The queen, (who was) habitually sarcastic, ridiculed 
the project. The duke, (who was) ignorant of the con- 
spirators' motives, zealously abetted the scheme. He had 
merely captured a vessel (which was) incapable of resist- 
ance. 

Here, again, ellipsis may alter the case of an adjective 
as in the last example, where, if the relative be preserved, 
" incapable " will agree with it in the nominative case ; 



132 ACCESSORY SENTENCES. 

but after the ellipsis the adjective must agree with '* vessel " 
in the accusative case. 

EXERCISE. 

Lesson 126. — Take a book as before ; and, having found 
twelve examples of extended simple sentences, where a 
substantive is determined by a governing adjective, or by 
an adjective that is itself defined, supply a relative pronoun 
and verb (underlined), and thus convert the defining clause 
into an accessory sentence. 

Ea;. : And Stephen, who teas full of faith and power, did great 
wonders and miracles among the people. 

Lesson 127. — Seek twelve instances of complex sen- 
tences, where the accessory sentence contains in the pre- 
dicate an adjective that permits ellipsis of the relative and 
its verb, so as to reduce the accessory sentence into a clause 
of an extended simple one, and mark the intended ellipsis 
by a parenthesis. 

Ux. : Almost every man (ivho stood) high in employment 
hated all the rest. 

3. When a governing verb of the accessory sen- 
tence, whether directly or indirectly transitive, is in 
the passive voice, ellipsis of the relative is general. 

Ex. : The building f which is) intended for a hospital is finished. 
The gentleman (that was) wounded in the duel is dead. 
Some spirits (ivhich had been) concealed in a cave were 
seized. The corpse (which was) found on the beach has 
been recognised. The amount of the damage (that was) 
caused by the flood is incalculable. Our frigate has cap- 
tured a vessel (that had been) equipped for the slave trade. 

In the last two examples the pupil may observe that the 
ellipses change the cases of the participles " caused," 
" equipped," from the nominative to the accusative. 



Lesson 128. — Seek twelve complex sentences, in which 
an accessory sentence with a passive verb admits ellipsis of 
the relative and the auxiliary verb to he, so that it may be 
reduced into a clause of the principal sentence ; and indi- 
cate the proposed ellipsis by a parenthesis. 



RELA.TIVE PRONOUTSS. 133 

Ex. : We are the national and hereditary lords of this part of 
the continent (which is J usurped by late invaders and low- 
bom tyrants. 

Lesson 129. — Seek twelve sentences where a substantive 
is defined by a clause containing a passive participle, that 
by the introduction of the relative and verb (underlined as 
before) is converted into an accessory sentence. 

Ex. : A child who is left to himself bringeth his mother to 
shame. They beheld a stately palace which was built upon 
a hill that was surrounded with woods. 

4. An accessory attributive sentence is frequently- 
reduced into a mere clause of the principal sentence, 
by employing the participle of the accessory verb, 
which, by its accord with the substantive defined, 
admits ellipsis of the relative. 

Ex. : The king, (who rejoiced) rejoicing in the success of the 
enterprise, granted a pension to the projector. His mother, 
(who heard) hearing the storj"-, fell into hysterics. My 
women, (who threw) throwing all their cares upon their 
mistress, set their minds at ease. 

EXERCISE. 

Lesson 130. — Seek or form twelve complex sentences^ 
where, by changing the verb of an accessory sentence into 
a participle, the whole may be formed into an extended 
simple sentence. 

Ex. : The Indian, (who ran) running with great speed, soon 
reached the tMcket. 

5. When the relative pronoun that should connect 
the attributive sentence to the substantive which it 
defines is the complement, either direct or indirect, of 
the accessory verb, it is in colloquial language very 
frequently omitted, the preposition by which the in- 
direct government is effected being then transferred 
to the end of the sentence. 

Ex. : The man (whom) we saw was a foreigner. The book 
(that) you lent me is very pretty. The plan (which) he 
has formed cannot be successful. The woman (to whom) 
the nurse spoke to is a laundress. The method (hy which) 



134 RELATIVE PRONOUNS. 

he escaped hy remains a secret. The child (for whom) I am 
interested for is an orphan. The house (at which) he is 
pointing at is my uncle's. 

The omission of the relative in cases like these is the 
gravest grammatical anomaly of our language; but to 
attempt its universal restoration would probably be a hope- 
less labour. The pupil will do well, however, more espe- 
cially in his intercourse with foreigners, to guard against 
indulging in ellipses like these ; for they present one of the 
greatest difficulties that strangers meet with in English ; 
rendering, as they do, grammatical analysis impossible. 
We find sentences, intimately connected in sense, without 
connectives to show the relation ; transitive verbs without 
complements ; prepositions without cases ; substantives, 
signifying different things, apparently in apposition, and 
other incongruities quite subversive of grammatical rules. 
The omission of the relative and the transference of the 
preposition to the close of the sentence is objectionable, 
even on account of style : a consideration that should pre- 
vent the employment of " that " as a relative when a pre- 
position is required, for this relative will not take a prepo- 
sition before it. 

Where it is desired to omit the relative, it may often be 
accomplished by rendering the verb passively, when the 
participle, by its concord with the substantive that it defines, 
preserves the congruity of the expression. In the first 
example given above it is uncertain, if the relative be 
omitted, whether we would assert that the person spoken 
of was a foreigner, or that we perceived his foreign ex- 
traction ; an uncertainty that disappears at once when the 
verb is rendered passively. 

Ex. : The man (who was) seen by us is a foreigner. The 
woman (who was) spoken to by the nurse is a laundress, &c. 

EXERCISE. 

Lesson 131. — Supply the ellipsis of the relative pronoun 
in the following sentences, transferring the preposition, 
where there is one, to the head of its sentence. 

The horse my brother bought is blind. The ship my father 
spoke of has been wrecked. The weasel the keeper shot 
at escaped. The pond he was drowned in is very deep. I 
have received the books you sent me. The tea we use is 



NOMINATIVE SENTENCES. 135 

expensive. The general has not produced the letters he 
alluded to. There is no one he fears except his father. 
Give me the books I asked for. TeU the gentlemen you 
-will see the truth. Call the w^itnesses you most depend on. 

Find in a newspaper, or any other work^ twelve instances 
where the relative has been thus omitted, a very easy task, 
and then supply the ellipses. 



SECTION vni. 

NOIMEINATIVS SENTENCBS. 

Those accessory sentences that, in a complex sen- 
tence, stand as the subject of the verb of the principal 
sentence, may be called Nominative Sentences. 
As the subject of a sentence must necessarily be a 
person or a thing, a nominative sentence always ex- 
presses the idea of a person or a thing, and governs 
the verb of which it is the subject in the singular 
number and third person, the connection of the sen- 
tences being effected in various ways. 

Ex. : James's thoughtlessness causes his parents much sorrow. 
= That James is so thoughtlesss causes his parents much 
sorrow. That the Supreme Being may he more easily propi- 
tiated in one place than in another, is the dream of idle super- 
stition ; but that some places may operate upo7i our minds in 
an uncommon mariner, is an opinion which houxly experience 
will justify. When the fleet will sail is uncertain. JVJiy I 
fear him must remain a secret. How he escaped may yet be 
discovered. 

Such a sentence is sometimes connected with the 
principal sentence that predicates of it by the pronoun 
luho, ivhose, lohom, ivhich. 

Ex. : Who wrote Junius' s Letters ( = the author of Junius's 
Letters) has never been satisfactorily determined. Whose 
fears induced the betrayal remains unkriown. Which had the 
best horse was the subject of dispute. Whom tve shall send 
is now the question. Which I shall choose puzzles me. 

In these sentences the pronouns may be regarded as 
absolute or substantive, and not relative, for they have no 



136 TvOMINATIVE SENTENCES. 

antecedents. In poetry, in rhetorical language, &c., we 
often find the relative standing absolutely, but then the 
omission of the antecedent is palpable and can be mentally 
supplied. Thus in the line " who steals my purse, steals 
trash," we feel that the antecedent of who is ''he," which 
is the nominative of the second verb " steals," the relative 
sentence serving to define the sense in which " he " is used. 
In other languages the employment of the relative pronoun 
substantively is frequent ; but in English, when we make a 
sentence of this kind the subject of a principal sentence, 
we commonly form an absolute pronoun by combining the 
words "50," "ever," or ''soever," with the relative. 

Ex. : Whcso (tohoever, whosoever) lives virtuously , lives happily. 

EXERCISE. 

Lesson 132. — Write twelve complex sentences, in which 
a nominative sentence is connected with the principal verb 
that predicates of it, by one or other of the absolute pro- 
nouns named in this section. 

Ex.: Who propagated the report is unknown. Whoever says 
that speaks falsely. 

If the nominative sentence expresses the idea of a 
thing, it may be joined to its principal sentence in 
three ways. 

1. By the pronoun what, or its compounds what- 
ever, tohatsoever. 

Ex. : What cannot he cured ( = an incurable evil) must be 
endured. Whatever is done willingly ( = an agreeable labour) 
is done well. 

What may be regarded as a compound pronoun com- 
prising in itself the relative and its antecedent, for it is pre- 
cisely equivalent to " that which," an expression that may 
always be substituted for it. 

2. If the nominative sentence conveys an idea of 
place, time, manner, or ground, it is connected with 
its principal sentence by the pronouns where, whence, 
ichither, hoio, when, lohy, and various combinations of 
" where/' as lohereahout, &c. 

Ex.: Whence (=from what place) he comes is unknown. IIoic 
(= by what means) he lives is a mystery. Whither I shall 



NOMINATIVE SENTENCES. 137 

go depends on circumstances. Why he quitted England will 
shortly be explained. 

Some only of our relatives can thus be used as absolute 
pronouns, for some imperatively require, and almost all 
will admit, the presence of the correlative term called the 
Antecedent. 

3. When an accessory nominative sentence ex- 
presses the idea of an abstract substantive, it is con- 
nected with the principal predicate by the conjunctions 
that, ivhether, 

Ex. : Whether the patient will recover ( = the patient's recovery) 
is uncertain. That knowledge confers powe^^ (=the influence 
of knov/ledge) cannot be questioned. 

In complex sentences like those at present under 
consideration^ we very commonly put the accessory 
sentence after the predicate of which it is really the 
subject, the place of the nominative at the head of the 
sentence being occupied by the neuter pronoun ^^ it^"^ 
which in reality represents the accessory sentence. 

Ex. : It is uncertain whether the patient will recover. It is a 
mystery how he lives. It causes his parents much sorrow 
that James is so thoughtless. 

Sometimes the expression is varied, and the idea 
conveyed by the principal predicate is expressed by 
a substantive, the place of the subject being occupied 
by the indefinite particle there, and the accessory sen- 
tence then becoming an attributive one determining 
the sense of the substantive. 

Ex. : Whether the general will come is doubtful. It is doubtful 
whether the general will come. There is a doubt whether the 
general will come. 

The particle there, in sentences like the last, must not be 
confounded with the adverb of place there ; it has in fact no 
grammatical value whatever : the verb agrees in number 
with the substantive or pronoun that follows, and which is 
really its nominative, the adverbs there, here, &c., being 
frequently found in the sentence. 

Ex. : There were certain men there. There is here a boy from 
Africa. There is a lire in the parlour. And suddenly there 
shined roimd about him a light from heaven. 



138 NOMINATIVE SENTENCES. 

EXERCISE. 

Lesson 133. — Form nominative sentences from the 
clauses printed in Italics, thus changing an extended simple 
sentence into a complex sentence. 

Ex. : The mortality of all men is certain = That all men are 
mortal is certain. 

The evil of idleness is acknowledged. The misconduct of 
children aflBicts their parents. The artist'' s talent is incon- 
testable. The fertility of the so^7 was admitted by tbe tenant 
himself. The price of the hook (what the book cost) consti- 
tutes its least value in my esteem. The utility of instruction 
caimot be questioned. The immortality of the soul is uni- 
versally believed. The invetitor of writing is not known. 
The spherical form of the earth may be clearly demonstrated. 
The medical properties of bark were made known by the 
Jesuits. The choice of a book puzzled John greatly. My 
riches were the theme of every tongue. The method of his 
escape is not recorded. The motives for the attempt cannot 
even be guessed at. 

Write the same sentences with the neuter pronoun '' it " 
standing in the place of the subject, and the accessory- 
nominative sentence following the verb that predicates 
of it. 

Ex. : It is certain that all men are mortal. 

Lesson 134. — Construct or find twelve similar sentences, 
and write them in the three different forms illustrated in. 
the last lesson. 

Lesson 135. — Find appropriate accessory nominative 
sentences that may serve to express the meaning of the 
pronoun " it" in the following principal sentences, connect- 
ing the two by the conjunctions that whether. 

It is true. It is false. It is untrue. It is improbable. 
It is not feasible. It is usual. It is doubtful. It is cer- 
tain. It is questionable. It was denied by all. It will be 
questioned by none. It admits of no dispute. 

Write the sentences with which you have accomplished 
the above exercise, with the accessory nominative sentence 
standing in its place as subject. 



INTERROGATIVES. 139 

SECTION IX. 
OP INTERROGATIVES. 

Many of the words that have been treated of in the 
last two sections as Relative or Conjunctive pronouns 
are also used to ask questions, when they are called 
Interkogative Pronouns. The use of these 
interrogatives is so simple that a very brief consi- 
deration of them will familiarize the pupil with their 
employment. 

When we inquire after a person we use one of the 
cases of "loho^^ which, like the relative, is of both 
numbers. 

Ex. : Who will lend me a pen ? Whose book is this ? Whom 
have we here ? For lohom is that letter ? Who hath woe ? 
Who hath sorrow ? Who hath contentions ? Who hath 
babbling ? TFAo hath wounds without a cause ? Who hath 
redness of eyes ? He that tarrieth at the wine. 

EXERCISE. 

Lesson 136. — Write twelve interrogative sentences, em- 
ploying the interrogative pronoun ''who'^ in one or other 
of its cases. 

When we would inquire after one or more of several 
specific persons or objects, we employ the interrogative 
pronoun " which^^ likewise of both numbers. This 
interrogative is frequently followed by a substantive 
or pronoun designating the objects inquired after. 

Ex. : WJiich will you take ? Which of you did this ? Which 
picture pleases you best ? In which room shall I find the 
master ? Which road is the shortest ? Which of the part- 
ners did you see ? 

EXERCISE. 

Lesson 137. — Write twelve questions, employing the 
interrogative pronoun which, sometimes singly and some- 
times accompanied by words designating the objects in- 
quired after. 

When inquiring after an object of which we have 



140 INTERROGATIVES. 

no knowledge^ we employ the interrogative pronoun 
" what " either singly or followed by a substantive. 

Ex. : What do you want ? What noise is that ? To what cause 
do you attribute the accident? What man is perfect ? Whai 
profit hath he that laboureth for the wind ? 

EXERCISE. 

Lesson 138. — Write twelve questions as before, using 
the interrogative pronoun what. 

In inquiring after a circumstance, as the time, place, 
manner, or origin of an action, we use as interroga- 
tives some of the words already explained as relative 
pronouns : " ivhen," " lohere,'^ " lohither,^' " iohenceP 
" ivhy,^^ " hoiv,'^ " ivherefore,'^ *^ ivhereinj'^ &c. 

Ex. : Why doth he yet find fault ? Hoto shall they believe in 
him of whom they have not heard ? When will the exa- 
mination take place ? Whence did you procure these pens ? 
Where do you reside ? Wherein have I offended you ? 

I have before remarked that these terms when used con- 
junctively are by some classed as Adverbs, and when used 
interrogatively our grammarians call them Interrogative 
Adverbs. The name is of little consequence, they are the 
perfect equivalents of the interrogative pronoun *'what" 
coupled with a substantive, which may always be substituted 
for them without in the least degree affecting the sense. 
Why = for what reason ; how = in what manner ; when = 
at what time ; whence = from what place ; where = in what 
place ; wherein = in what, &c. 

EXERCISE. 

Lesson 139. — Write twelve questions, employing the 
interrogatives just mentioned, and then write the same 
questions, substituting ''what," properly modified, for the 
interrogative previously used. 

Ex. : Whither was Napoleon banished ? To what place was 
Napoleon banished ? 



ACCUSA.TIYE SENTENCES. 141 



SECTION X. 

ACCVSATIVB SErffTB^OBS. COMPLE- 
TSVB OP VERBS. 

Those accessory sentences that, in a complex sen- 
tence, form the complement of a verb or an adjective, 
are called Accdsative Sentences. Let us first 
consider those which form the complement of a tran- 
sitive verb. 

If an accusative sentence, forming the complement 
of a transitive verb, expresses the idea of a person, it 
is connected with its principal sentence by the same 
words as an accessory nominative sentence of a similar 
character, namely, by the relative pronouns, who, 
whose, whom, which. 

Ex. : The poor woman knew not to/io had paid the debt. The 
lady inquired whose children they were. Whom nobody can 
advise nobody can help. Which actor pleases me most I can- 
not decide. 

The accusative sentence is, as the pupil may observe in 
the last two examples, sometimes placed before the principal 
sentence of whose verb it forms the complement. 

When the object that the pronoun represents is one of a 
specific class, the relative which is commonly used, when 
the substantive may either be in the plural number with 
the preposition " o/," or may immediately follow the rela- 
tive. Thus we may say indifferently " which of the actors," 
or "which actor.'" 

EXERCISE. 

Lesson 140. — Form twelve complex sentences, each 
containing- an accessory accusative sentence coupled ta its 
principal sentence by one or other of the pronouns who, 
whose, whom, 

Ex. : Tell me lohom you saw. I have forgotten toJiose portrait 
it is. 

If the accusative sentence expresses the idea of a 
thing, it may, like a nominative sentence, be joined to 
the principal sentence in three ways. 



142 ACCUSATIVE SENTENCES. 

1 . By the pronouns which, what, and their com- 
pounds ivhatever, ivhichever, whichsoever, &c. 

Esc. : Take whichever pleases you best. I do not kiiow what my 
father loill think of it. Whatever we do willingly "we do 'well. 
The master granted ns what loe asked. 

2. By the pronouns ivhere, whence, ivhither, lohen, 
why, how, and certain combinations of where, as 
wherein, &c. 

Ex. : I do not know where he lives ( = his place of abode) . 
The mendicant told us whence he came and whither he was 
going. The witness explained hoio he obtained a livelihood. 
Tell me xoherein I have offended you. 

3. An accessory accusative sentence conveying an 
abstract idea is connected by the conjunctions that 
whether. 

Ex. : I have already mentioned that corn is very dear ( = the 
high price of com). The master will ask whether the thing 
happened so. That he had had any previous communication 
with the malcontents the duke strenuously denied. 

EXERCISE. 

Lesson 141. — Form twelve complex sentences, each 
containing an accessory accusative sentence united to its 
principal sentence by one of the pronouns which, what, 
whichever, whatever, &c. 

Ex. : Give the boatmen whatever they demand. Hear, Imlac, 
what thou xoilt not without difficidty believe. 

Lesson 142. — Form accusative sentences from the 
clauses of the following sentences that are printed in Italics. 

Ex. : No reasonable being can doubt the existence of a God. 
That there is a God no reasonable being can doubt. 

The humane will remember the sufferings of the poor. The 
scholars expect a holiday. The children anticipated much 
pleasure from the visit. The man could not tell us the exact 
position of the farm. Can you tell me the year of Charles the 
First's execution ? The sailor recounted the manner of his 
preservation. No one could guess his motives for the act. 
The captain demanded a sight of the ship's papers. The 
commander saw the uselessness of further resistance. The 
prisoner has confessed the murder. The magistrate doubted 
the truth of the story. Ignorant people believe in witches. 



COMPLETIVE OF VERBS. 143 

"When we cite what another person says, the quo- 
tation forms an accessory accusative sentence, serving 
as complement to the verb of the principal sentence : 
the citation may, however, be made in two different 
ways, viz. : 

1. Verbatim; when the precise words employed 
are repeated. 

Ex. : The prince said, *' I fly pleasure, because pleasure has 
ceased to please." 

In this case the quoted words, which may be separated 
from the introductory sentence by a comma, or even by a 
semicolon or colon ( : ) are marked by inverted commas 
(** — "), and no conjunction is required to connect the 
sentences. 

2. The words may be quoted narratively ^ when the 
first person is changed to the second or third person, 
according as the citation is made from the party ad- 
dressed, or from some third person. 

Ex. : The prince said, that he fled from pleasure, because 
pleasure had ceased to please. 

In such citations the conjunction " that " is commonly 
used to connect the sentences, a comma being placed be- 
tween them. 

The quoted sentence may follow the principal sentence, 
as seen above, or it may precede it. " I fly pleasure, be- 
cause pleasure has ceased to please," said the prince ; or the 
principal sentence may, and commonly does, stand in, the 
midst of the words quoted : *' I fly pleasure," said the 
prince, " because pleasure has ceased to please." 

In colloquial language the conjunction " that" connect- 
ing the accessory accusative sentence is very frequently 
omitted. 

Ex. : Weak people believe there are ghosts. You think rich 
people are happy. He says his father was a farmer. 

This omission of the conjunction between a principal 
sentence, and an accessory one forming the complement of 
its verb, is not to be recommended, although examples of 
it incessantly occur even in our best writers : the pupil 



144 ACCUSATIVE SENTENCES. 

should accustom himself to use the conjunction in all such 
cases. 

EXERCISE. 

Lesson 143. — Write twelve complex sentences in which 
a principal sentence shall introduce a citation from the Bible 
or any other English book, both verbatim and narrativel)^ 
taking care, in the former method, to mark the quoted 
words by inverted commas. 

Ew. : " Praise," said the sage, with, a sigh, " is to an old man 

an empty sound." 
The sage said, with a sigh, that praise was an empty sound to 

an old man. 

Lesson 144. — Write twelve complex sentences, in which 
an accusative sentence completes the idea of action ex- 
pressed by the verb of the principal sentence. 

Ex. : Connoisseurs had pronounced, that this picture was a 
copy. 

Lesson 145. — Seek in any English work twelve instances 
of the omission of the conjunction that between a principal 
and an accessory accusative sentence, and supply the omis- 
sion parenthetically. 

Ejc.: The tribune naturally thought (that) he had brought 
some important information. 

"When a fact that, under other circumstances, might 
be announced in an accessory sentence, is that to 
which we would give prominence, we very often, 
instead of rendering it by a subordinate sentence, 
connect it co-ordinately with another short sentence, 
showing our authority for the assertion. The expla- 
natory sentence then commonly stands in the middle 
of the other sentence ; and, if the matter be merely 
narrative, Vv^e commonly interpolate it without a con- 
junction : but if the speaker wish clearly to divest 
himself of responsibility, he shows the qualified nature 
of the assertion by employing the conjunction " as " 
to connect the sentences. 

E^. : She had since that, she told me, strayed as far as E-ome. 
His father had been, as he asserted, an extensive proprietor 
in Pomerania. These pills were, as the mountebank pre- 
tended, a specific for all the ills that flesh is heir to. 



ACCUSATIVE SENTENCES. 145 

Lesson 146. — Seek or form twelve examples of co- 
ordinately combined complex sentences, where the autho- 
rity for the principal assertion is shown by a short sentence 
introduced into the body of the other. 

JEx. : The captives had been sold, as he asserted, m obedience 
to the orders of the general. The Cyclops were, as the 
ancients believed, a race of giants inhabiting Sicily. 



SECTION IX. 

ACCUSATIVE SUHTES^CES GOM- 
PLETIVE OP ADJECTIVES. 

In treating of the comparison of adjectives (Chap. 
III., Sect. IV.), it was remarked that in the simplest 
form of expression predicating the result of a com- 
parison, there would be found, if the sentence were 
strictly analysed, ellipsis of a verb with an adjective 
in the positive degree : as, for instance, " he is taller 
than his brother fis tall J '^ As the judgment result- 
ing from a comparison cannot always be expressed in 
a simple sentence, this portion of grammar was not 
fully investigated at that period of our progress ; but 
we have now reached a position that seems the fittest 
for resuming the consideration of it. 

The standard of comparison is frequently an ab- 
straction, and the result an idea so complex, that it 
can only be expressed by two sentences, of which the 
one is accessory to the other ; and as it forms the com- 
plement of an adjective, by perfecting an idea hitherto 
incomplete, I class it with accusative sentences ; some 
of which, as we have seen in the last section, serve in 
the same way to complete the idea of the action ex- 
pressed by a transitive verb. 

Accessory sentences serving to complete the sense 
of an adjective, may be classed under two heads. 

1. When the degree of a quality in any object is 
asserted to be such that a certain effect results from 

H 



146 ACCUSATIVE SENTENCES 

it, the adjective standing in the principal sentence is 
increased in force by the adverb ''so'' and the 
accessory sentence that serves to complete the sense 
of the adjective by expressing a consequence, is con- 
nected by the conjunction that. 

Ex. : The wasps are tliis year so numerous that they have spoiled 
all the fruit in our garden. 

EXEKCISE. 

Lesson 147. — Write twelve complex sentences in which 
an adjective, determined by the adverb so, is completed by 
an accessory sentence connected by the conjunction that. 

Ex. : Th.e grapes were so sour that they set our teeth on edge. 

After the demonstrative " such " the sentence form- 
ing its complement may be connected either by the 
relative pronoun '' as,'' or, when the accessory sen- 
tence predicates a consequence, by the conjunction 
that. 

Ex. : The paintings are such as are fotmd in very feio collec- 
tions. The violence of the storm was such that no boat 
could venture out. 

In the first example "as" the relative pronoun is the 
nominative to the passive verb are found : were we to put 
the verb actively, and say "as vje find" then the relative 
"as" would be in the accusative governed by the active 
verb. 

EXERCISE. 

Lesson 148. — Write twelve complex sentences, in six of 
which an accessory sentence coupled 'Syj " as" completes 
the sense of " such" and in the other six, similar sentences 
coupled by " that" are similarly employed. 

Ex. : His directions were such as rendered obedience hnpossibh. 
Such were the difficulties that the adventurers abandoned the 
enterprise. 

2. If the adjective is in the comparative degree,, 
whether that degree be formed by inflection or by 
the adverbs " more " or " less," the accessory sentence 
serving to complete the sense of the adjective is con- 
nected by the conjunction than. 



COMPLETIVE OF ADJECTIVES. 147 

E.v. : Tlie aldennaii was richer than his felloxo citizens believed. 
This box is larger than I wanted. The task was less difficult 
than we had imagined, 

EXERCISE. 

Lesson 149. — Write twelve complex sentences in which 
aii adjective, in the comparative degree, is completed by an 
accessory sentence coupled by the conjunction than, 

Ex. : That man is far happier thaii you stippose. 

Sometimes tlie sentence which completes an adjec- 
tive in the comparative degree seems to be without a 
nominative case. 

Ex. : His style of living w^as more expensive than toas con- 
sistent with his limited fortune. Henry is less candid tha7i 
is commonly believed. 

As every predicating verb must have a nominative case 
(or subject) either expressed or understood, let us see what 
is really the nominative case in accessory sentences like 
those just given. It will be found, if the thought be ex- 
pressed in full, that the missing nominative is either a 
relative or a personal pronoun. In the first case, not only 
the relative but its antecedent also is understood, the latter 
being the subject of the leading verb repeated; as, his 
style of living was more expensive than fthe style, which) 
was consistent with his fortune. In the second example a 
personal pronoun, also representing the subject of the 
leading sentence, is the nominative to the second verb ; as 
Henry is less candid than fhej is commonly believed 
(to be.) 

EXERCISE, 

Lesson 150. — Try if you can form twelve complex sen- 
tences upon the model of those just given, supplying, 
parenthetically, the words necessary to show the nominative 
case of the accessory sentence. 

Ex. : The expenses of the mission were less considerable than 
(the expenses which) had been anticipated. 



H '^ 



148 ADVERBIAL SENTENCES 



SECTION XII. 

adverbial (c z rcum st anti azi) 

s£nt£:no£:s. 

comparxsow of adverbs. 

Those accessory sentences that, in a complex sen- 
tence, express a ckcumstance incident to the verb of 
the principal sentence, are called Adverbial Sen- 
tences ; and, like the class of words whose functions 
they perform, they may be divided into four classes, 
according to the different kinds of circumstances that 
they express, viz. 

1 . Adverbial Sentences circumstantial o/'P l ace. 

2. Adverbial Sentences circumstantial of Tim.-e.. 

3. Adverbial Sentences circumstantial o/" Man- 
ner. 

4. Adverbial Sentences circumstantial of ri- 
gin. 

Adverbs, like adjectives, admit modifications of 
degree ; and the present seems a convenient opportu- 
nity, when we are about to enter upon the consi- 
deration of adverbial sentences, for a brief notice of 
this peculiarity. 

The modification of degree in the adverb may be 
of two kinds. 

1 . It may be positive ; in which case it is expressed 
by another adverb. 

E:i. : We could not see vert/ far. You come rather late. He 
sings extremely well. She speaks much too quickly. The 
old horse can trot tolerably fast. Tho scheme has failed 
most completely. 

2. It may be referential; when the adverb, show- 
ing the judgment resulting from a comparison, re- 
quires to be followed by a phrase or sentence that, in 
naming the standard of comparison, serves to perfect 
the incomplete idea awakened by the adverb itself. 
When the sense of an adverb is thus completed by a 



CIRCUMSTANTIAL OF PLACE. 149 

sentence, the latter must be regarded as forming the 
complement of the adverb; and expressing, as it 
always does, a circumstance of the verb of the prin- 
cipal sentence, it must be classed among accessory 
adverbial sentences. 

Ex. : The flood extended as far as the eye could reach. The 
captain remained so long that the tide had ehbed. The scho- 
lars wished for a holiday oftener than the master thought 
reasonable. He writes much better than he speaks. A loco- 
motive engine travels faster than a bird can fly. The queen 
received her favourite less cordially than she was icont. 

Some few adverbs are compared like adjectives, by in- 
flection, as, soon, sooner, soonest; fast, faster, fastest; 
several are irregularly compared, as, well, better, best ; ill, 
worse, w'orst ; but the greater number take the adverbs of 
degree more, less, most, least ; as less frequently ; most 
willingly. As the pupil will have opportunities of exer- 
cising himself upon adverbs thus compared in the course of 
the following sections, I shall not here require an exercise 
illustrative of them. 



SECTION XIII. 

ADVERBIAL SENTENCES CZRCUM- 
STANTXAIi OF FZiACE. 

Accessory sentences circumstantial of place are con- 
nected with their principal sentences by the words 
where, ichitJier, ivhence, which, when thus employed, 
are termed by our grammarians Adverbs; but as 
they do not of themselves express the idea of place, 
for the locality is shown by the accessory sentence 
which they attach to the principal one, I shall call 
them Adverbial Conjunctions. I must again 
remark, however, that the naine by which we distin- 
guish a word is of little consequence ; the aim of the 
student should be to obtain a clear idea of its office. 
The Adverbial Conjunctions, like other connectives, 
consist of two parts, the one prospective, standing in 



1.50 ADVERBIAL SENTENCES 

the principal sentence, and serving as antecedent to 
the relative member, which stands in the accessory 
sentence. 

Ex. : Where the treasure is, there will the heart be also. "We 
cannot reap, zvhere we have not sown. The colonist leaves a 
garden where he found a wilderness. A soldier must go 
whither duty calls. Where nothing is^ nothing can be had. 
Whither the wind blows, thither are the clouds borne. We 
should draw wisdom whence we draw instrtiction. Carry the 
book thither, u-hence you brought it. 

The antecedent member of the conjunction is fre- 
quently omitted, as in some of the sentences just 
given ; but it may always be supplied if the accessory 
sentence be an adverbial one, though its constant em- 
ployment would render the style formal. 

E.V. : We cannot reap (there) where we have not sown. The 
colonist leaves a garden (there) where he found a wilder- 
ness. A soldier must go (thither) whither duty calls. 
Where nothing is (there) can nothing be had. We should 
draw wisdom (thence) whence we draw instruction. 

If the antecedent member of the conjunction can- 
not be supplied in the principal sentence, the accessory 
sentence is not an adverbial one, but is either an 
attributive, a nominative, or an accusative accessory 
sentence. In the following complex sentences the 
pupil may observe, that the principal sentences will 
not admit a word corresponding with the conjunction 
by which the accessory sentences are connected with 
them, and therefore they are not adverbial sentences. 

Ex.: Do you know the house wherein my "brother lives'? 
(Attributive = in which my brother lives = my brother's 
residence.) Whence he obtained his loealth is unknown. 
(Nominative = the source of his wealth.) I cannot tell 
where my brother resides at present. (Accusative = my bro- 
ther's present residence.) 

The adverbial sentence may either precede or follow the 
principal sentence, or may even occupy an intermediate 
position in it. 

Ex. : Where the sufferer wants bread, words are (there) of little 
use. Words are (there) of little use where the sufferer wants 
bread. Words are (there), where the sufferer wants bread, of 
little use. 



CIRCUMSTANTIAL OF PLACE. 151 



Lesson 151. — Find accessory adverbial sentences, cir- 
cumstantial of place, appropriate to the following principal 
sentences. 

Ex. : . . . (there) few geese are found. Where foxes rule 
(there) few geese are found. . . . there may we reap. 
. . . there has right no might. . . . there are the 

vultures gathered together. . . . thence must we receive 
evil also. . . . there shall we commonly find merit. 

The guests flock thither . . . Throw the net . . . 
Place the flowers . . . Drive the sheep thither . . . 
Bruce posted his army . . . We found a garden . . . 

Form twelve similar complex sentences yourself. 

Some few adverbs expressing distance are suscep- 
tible of degree in their signification, and may be fol- 
lowed by an accessory sentence completing the idea 
of comparative distance raised by the adverb thus 
modified. If an equality of degree is to be expressed, 
the accessory is connected with the principal sentence 
by the conjunction '^ as,'' answering to another " as " 
standing as an adverb of degree in the principal 
sentence, and forming the leading member of the con- 
nective. 

Ex. : The captain anchored (where ?) as close to the shore as 
prudeiice would permit. Place the stables as far from the 
house as you possibly can. 

Sometimes the locality is more clearly determined 
by a consequence resulting from it, when the accessory- 
sentence is connected by the conjunction " that,' 
answering to an intensive "so'' in the principal sen- 
tence. 

Ex. : The vessel came so near to the shore that a rope was 
thrown aboard. The Arabs retreated so far into the desert 
that pursuit became impossible. 

If superiority or inferiority be predicated, the 
accessory sentence is coupled by the conjunction 
*^ than," answering to the adverb in the comparative 
degree standing in the principal sentence. 



152 ADVERBIAL SEl^TENCES 

Ex. : The scouts advanced further than they had been com' 
manded. The lion came closer than the elephant liked. 

With adverbs, as with adjectives determined in degree, 
we sometimes find the verb of the accessory sentence with- 
out a nominative case expressed, and which, if expressed, 
would be a circumlocutory repetition of the idea conveyed 
by the verb of the leading sentence. 

Ew. : The captain anchored as close to the shore as was pru- 
dent. The lion came closer than was agreeable to the 
elephant. 

It may sometimes be a question whether an accessory 
sentence express a circumstance of place or of manner. 
This is of little moment ; but if it be desired to deter- 
mine the character of the sentence, it may be done by 
trying whether it answers to the question where ? or the 
question how ? asked with the verb of the principal sen- 
tence : if the accessory sentence respond to the first ques- 
tion it expresses a circumstance of place ; if to the latter, 
a circumstance of manner. 

EXERCISE. 

Lesson 152. — Write twelve complex sentences, in which 
a circumstance of proximity or distance is expressed by an 
accessory sentence, four to follow the adverb " as," four to 
follow " so," and the other four to answer to an adverb in 
the comparative degree. 

Ex. : I went as near to the dog as you did. The trout lay so 
near the bank that I caught it toith my hand. My bow will 
carry further than you can throio a stone. 



SECTION XIV. 

ADVEBBIAIj sbntsnces cxrcubi- 

STAHTIAL OF TIMS. 

Accessory sentences circumstantial of time are 
connected with their principal sentences by certain 
adverbial conjunctions, of \vhich the adverb " then " 
is very often the antecedent or prospective member. 



CIRCUMSTANTIAL OF TIME. 153 

The following words (which, like those connecting 
accessory adverbial sentences of place, are commonly 
called adverbs) are the chief conjunctions that con- 
nect accessory sentences expressing ideas of time : 
after, as, before, directly, ere, since, until (HillJ, 
ichen, ivhile, ichenever, &c. Accessory sentences of 
time, like the clauses circumstantial of time in an 
extended simple sentence, answer to the questions 
tvhen 9 koto long ? how often ? Where " as " serves 
to connect an accessory sentence of time, the adverb 
" so " may commonly be inserted in the principal 
sentence as the leading member of the conjunction. 
It will be seen in the following examples, that, as in 
other cases, accessory adverbial sentences of time often 
precede or divide the principal sentence. 

Ex. : As the stm rises (so) the clouds disperse. While the grass 
groics the steed may starve. The son, since his father died, 
has mortgaged the farm. The fields teemed with fragrance 
after the rain had fallen. The birds retire ere night falls. 
The ser^'ant had waited until his patience was exhausted. 
AVe shall not have finished tchen the hell rings for dinner. 

In complex sentences like these we frequently find 
ellipsis of the subject and verb to be in the accessory 
sentence. 

Ex. : Serve up the dinner when (it is) ready. When (it is) 
ripe the farmer will mow the barley. 

EXERCISE. 

Lesson 153. — Find accessory sentences expressing a 
circumstance of time appropriate to each of the following 
principal sentences. 

Ex. : . . . he became greatly alarml|d. When Crusoe saic 
the savages he became greatly alarmed. 

The scholars are silent the swallows 

return. . . . the snowdrop peeps forth. . . . chickens 
can run. Puppies cannot see . . . The owl flies abroad 

cattle seek the shade. The village bells rang 

merrily ... ... there is little need of the doctor. 

Do not despair . . . Our friendship is tried . . . 

The soldiers fell in we can sleep tranquilly. 

Say your prayers ... 

h5 



154 ADVEHBIAL SENTENCES 

Lesson 154. — Write twelve similar complex sentences 
yourself, taking care that one of the sentences in each, 
whether the principal or the accessory one, be in the 
pluperfect tense ; or, if you find a difficulty in this, seek 
them in any English book, as, for instance, Enfield's Speaker, 
on opening which I find ; 

He had not been long in the palace, before he was discovered 
by some of the guards. 

Lesson 155. — Form or find twelve similar complex sen- 
tences, having one of the constituent sentences in the im- 
perfect tense expressed by the participle and the verb to be. 

Ex. : While these two great rivals were thus contending for 
empire, their conquests were very various. 

Some few adverbs of time admit modification of 
degree, and may consequently be follovred by a 
phrase, or by an accessory sentence, serving to com- 
plete the imperfect idea excited by the adverb thus 
modified. Such accessory sentences are connected 
with their principal sentences, by the same adverbial 
conjunctions that are employed with similar sentences 
circumstantial of place: "as" followed by "a^/" 
"5o" followed by '^thatf and an adverb in the 
comparative degree followed by " than.^^ 

Ea: : Ask the master as often as you are at a loss. He stayed 
so late that the packet had sailed. The apprentice went out 
oftener than his master liked. The ship arrived earlier than 
we expected. The shepherd rises earUer tha7i the sun (does). 
The queen visits the opera more frequently than her prede- 
cessor (did). 

In sentences like the last two, we frequently find the verb 
of the accessory sentences either wholly omitted or repre- 
sented by the auxiliary verb do, standing for the adjective 
verb in the present or imperfect tense. As in circumstances 
of place, we also find the verb of the accessory sentence 
without an expressed nominative. 

Ex. : He dropped in upon us oftener than was pleasant. 

Here the repeated action expressed by the predicate of 
the leading sentence must be understood as the subject of 
the accessory verb ; the accessory sentence forms the com- 



CIRCUMSTANTIAL OF MANNER. 155 

plement of the adverb, the pronoun "it" being frequently 
introduced to hold the place of the nominative. 

EXERCISE. 

Lesson 156, — ^Write tv^^elve complex sentences, employ- 
ing in the principal sentence an adverb, modified as men^ 
tioned above, and let the verb in one of the sentences be 
in the Future Tense. 

Ear. : Our master will return sooner than we expected. We 
shall skait as long as the frost will permit. 



SECTION XV. 

ADVERBIAI. SENTENCBS CZRCUM- 
STANTIAI. OF MiAHNER. 

Accessory sentences, that serve to show hotv the 
action of the principal verb is performed, are adverbial 
sentences of manner. Such sentences do not admit 
of a very strict classification : they commonly follow 
a modified adverb, when they are united by the same 
conjunctions as the accessory sentences which have 
been explained in the preceding sections. The adver- 
bial conjunction " as," and the compound connectives 
" in that,'^ " as though,'' " as if" may couple acces- 
sory sentences, explicative of the manner of the prin- 
cipal verb, without an antecedent expression in the 
principal sentence ; although perhaps "50" or ^^thus^^ 
might generally be introduced without affecting the 
sense. 

Ex. : An honest man speaks as he thinks. We have written 
our exercises as the tutor directed. She is dressed as if she 
expected company. Your friend degraded himself in that he 
descended to a subterfuge. Conscious of the integrity of his 
motives, he felt not dishonoured in that bad men scoffed at 
him. 

The connective " in that " has a formal effect, and is not 
of frequent occurrence : a sentence of this kind would be 
much better rendered by an Infinitive phrase, as will be 
hereafter explained in the section treating of Infinitives. 



156 ADVERBIAL SENTENCES 



EXERCISE. 

Lesson 157. — Write twelve complex sentences in which 
an accessory sentence serves to show the manner of the 
action of the preceding sentence. 

Es. : The river meanders as the valley winds. The vane turns 
as the wind blows. The clouds lour as though it would rain. 

Adverbs of manner generally admit modifications 
of degree, and therefore such adverbs are very com- 
monly followed by accessory sentences explicative of 
the degree. These are connected by the same con- 
junctions as similar sentences circumstantial of place 
and time : an adverb modified by " as " is followed 
by " as,'^ " so " is followed by " that,'''' and a com- 
parative by " than." 

E.T. : A reporter must write as fast as an orator speaks. The 
boy is going on quite as well as the doctors expected. He 
ran so swiftly that he icas soon out of breath. You have be- 
haved so ill that I shall confine you, to the school-room. The 
snow melts faster than the river can carry off the water. It 
freezes more intensely to-day than it did yesterday. 

Sometimes when the manner of the principal action is 
represented as increasing proportionally to the action ex- 
pressed by the accessory sentence, we find a comparative 
adverb in both sentences, the word " the " before each sen- 
tence serving as a connective. 

Ex. : The faster the horse galloped, the more the groom spurred. 

In such complex sentences the accessory member always 
stands first. 



Lesson 158. — Write twelve subordinately combined 
complex sentences, in which an adverb in the principal 
sentence, modified by " as " or " so," is followed by an 
accessory sentence, coupled by " as " or " that." 

Ex. : Our French master speaks German as well as the Ger- 
man master speaks French. You write so illegibly that no on^ 
can read your letters. 

Lesson 159. — Write twelve similar sentences^ the ptin- 



CIIICUMSTANTIA.L OF ORIGIN. 157 

cipal sentence to contain an adverb in the comparative 
degree. 

Ex. You lie in bed later tlian is conducive to liealth. The 
captain lives itim-e extravagantly than he can afford. The 
moon sliines less brightly than the sun. 

Lesson 160. — Write twelve complex sentences, in which 
an accessory sentence, with an adverb in the comparative 
degree, is followed by a principal sentence with a similar 
adverb. 

Ex. : The more diligently you labour, the j)iore liberally will 
you be rewarded. 



SECTION XVI. 

ADVERBIAIi SENTENCES CZRCUIVE- 
STANTZAI. OP ORIGIN. 

Two simple sentences, each asserting its fact abso- 
lutely, are often so connected in a co-ordinately com- 
bined complex sentence, as that the one fact is repre- 
sented either as a cause or a consequence of the other. 
Such complex sentences have been fully considered in 
Section II. of the present chapter, p. 108; where the 
simple sentences that are combined together by the 
conjunctions "for," "therefore," and others, which 
may be regarded as the equivalents of these two, are 
treated of. We frequently, however, make assertions 
dependent on, or having reference to, certain condi- 
tional, hypothetical, or wholly imaginary incidents ; 
and then, in order to show the qualified nature of 
the judgment uttered, we mention the incidental or 
imaginary circumstance in a sentence, that must be 
regarded as one accessory of origin ; for it expresses 
the source, more or less remote, of the assertion con- 
veyed by the principal sentence. As accessory sen- 
tences of this kind do not assert directly, their verb 
is very commonly in the Subjunctive Mood. 



158 ADVERBIAL SENTENCES 

Accessory sentences of origin may be divided into 
two classes. 

1. Those which express a motive or end. 

2. Those which express a hypothesis or supposi- 
tion upon which the fact of the principal sentence is 
contingent. 

Adverbial sentences circumstantial of origin, when 
they express a motive or end, are connected with the 
principal sentence either by the conjunctions that, 
lest ; or by a relative pronoun : the following sen- 
tences contain examples of the conjunctions just 
named. 

Ex. Man eats that he may live. The angler broke th.e ice that 
the fish might have air. We must spare in youth that we may 
not want in age. 

In expressions like the last, where the impelling 
motive is the avoidance of an evil, the conjunction 
lest is substituted for that, and the negative omitted. 

Ex, : We must spare in you.th lest we want in age. Reprove 
not a scorner lest he hate thee. 

The following sentence shows an accessory sentence, 
expressing the motive of the principal action, con- 
nected by a relative pronoun to the principal sentence. 

Ex. : The Romans built a wall across the island, which might 
prevent the incursions of the Piets and Scots. 

This form of expression, an imitation of the Latin, is 
not very frequent with us, the accessory verb in such cases 
being commonly rendered by the Infinitive mood, as will be 
explained in the following section. 

In ALL accessory sentences, expressing the motive 
or end of the principal sentence, the verb does not 
directly assert action, and is, consequently, in the 
Subjunctive Mood. 

EXERCISE. 

Lesson 161. — Write twelve complex sentences, in which 
an accessory sentence of origin is connected by the con- 
junction that. 



CIRCUMSTANTIAL OF ORIGIN. 159 

Ex. : The arbitrator stated this circumstance, tJiai the ground 
of his atoard might be known. Honour thy father and thy 
mother, that thy days may he long in the land. 

Lesson 162. — Write twelve similar complex sentences, 
employing the conjunction lest. 

Ex. : Judge not, lest ye he judged. You must shut the cage, 
lest the bird shoidd escape. 

Accessory sentences of origin, that express a hypo- 
thesis or condition upon which the principal sentence 
is contingent, are joined to the principal sentence by 
the conjunctions except, if, though, unless, and the 
conjunctive phrase provided that, and some others 
that may be regarded as the equivalents of " z/l" 

Ex. : If the frost continue, the ice will soon bear. Provided 
that my own conscience approve, I care little for the animad- 
versions of others. Except ye repent, ye shall surely die. 
Unless the fine he paid, he ^\dll certainly be sent to prison. 

Where a hypothesis is double, triple, or even mani- 
fold, and the principal assertion will hold good under 
all the suppositions, the accessory sentence is coupled 
by the conjunction whether. 

Ex. : I shall start to-night whether you accompany me or not. 

Note. — The familiar expression " whether or no,'' I hold 
to be faulty, though it occurs in our best writers : " not " 
is the proper word, for with it we can supply the ellipsis 
" whether you accompany me or {accompany me) not. 

EXERCISE. 

Lesson 163. — Write twelve subordinately combined 
complex sentences, in which the accessory sentences are 
connected by the conjunctions except, if, unless ; of which, 
should you find the task a difficult one, you may find 
numerous examples in the Scriptures. 

Ex.: If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God 
destroy. 

Lesson 164. — Write twelve similar sentences, employ- 
ing the conjunctions though, whether, provided that, &c. 



160 THE INFINITIVE MOOD. 

Ex. : Though I should die vyith thee, yet will I not deny thee. 
Whether we move or not, we always feel something under us 
that supports us. 

An accessory conditional sentence is very frequently 
expressed by slightly inverting the order of the words, 
as in an interrogation ; when the inflected verb, whe- 
ther auxiliary or principal, precedes the subject, and 
a conjunction is unnecessary. This may be said to be 
our ordinary method of expressing a hypothesis, and 
the accessory verb is commonly in the subjunctive 
mood ; unless indeed the speaker would show his own 
conviction, that the circumstance mentioned in the 
accessory sentence' 'is a fact. 

Ex. : Were I rich I would travel. Answer respectfully should 
you be questioned. Had his conduct been blameless he would 
have escaped censure. 

EXERCISE. 

Lesson 165. — Write twelve complex sentences, in which 
the hypothetical character of the accessory sentence is 
shown by the inverted order of the words. 

Ex. : My son, should sinners entice thee, consent thou not. 
Were wishes horses, beggars would ride. 



SECTION XVII. 

THE XNFZNITZVE MOOD. 
VERBAL SUBSTANTIVES^ PARTI- 
CIPLES^ &C. 

A verb asserts what its subject does ; but we often 
have occasion to speak of actioii in a general way, 
and without direct reference to a specific actor ; and 
there are in every language some peculiar forms of 
the verb, constituting what is called the Infinitive 
Mood, that thus serve to name, without predicating 
action. 

The character of a language is greatly influenced 



VERBAL SUBSTANTIVES, PARTICIPLES, &C. 161 

by its infinitive constructions ; and it is to the frequent 
and unusually bold employment of them, that the 
English owes at the same time its flexibility and its 
force. They form so prominent a characteristic of 
our language as to demand a detailed examination ; 
for we habitually employ them in locutions that re- 
quire, in other languages, a totally different construc- 
tion: and therefore an intimate acquaintance with 
these expressions, and the faculty of promptly ren- 
dering them by other equivalent forms, are indispen- 
sable to our progress in such languages, both as 
regards our ready comprehension of those who speak 
or write them, and the ability to express our own 
impressions freely and correctly in the foreign idiom. 
These considerations warrant me in challenging the 
pupil's earnest attention to the present section, the 
KEYSTONE of his grammatical labours. 

In many instances our substantive, that names the 
object or fact resulting from an action, is not the same 
as that which names the operation itself; nor is it 
always formed analogically from the verb : indeed it 
would often be difficult (and of little utility if prac- 
ticable) to determine whether the verb was originally 
derived from the substantive, or the substantive from 
the verb ; though the latter seems the more probable 
hypothesis. To the verbs to think, to fight, to cheat, 
to speak, to laugh, to deceive. Sec, we have the sub- 
stantives a thought, a fight, a speech, a laugh, a 
deception, &c., that serve to name the fact or result of 
an individual exercise of the action. But to name 
the operation itself, we employ a substantive that is 
always identical in form with the active participle; 
thinking, fighting, cheating, speaking, laughing, 
deceiving, &c. In many cases this form names both 
the doing and the thing done ; the operation and its 
result : as, to paint, painting, a painting (a picture) ; 
to build, building, a building (an edifice) ; to ivrite, 
writing, a ivriting (a document); beating, scoldings 
&c, &c. 



162 THE INFINITIVE MOOD. 

The verbal substantive, or participle used substan- 
tively, differs from the ordinary substantive, for it 
combines in itself the functions of a substantive and 
a verb, exercising at the same time the government of 
both, and admitting the modifications of which each 
is susceptible. The present participle active, when 
preceded by a preposition, is the exact equivalent of 
the Latin Gerund; but all our participles can be 
used substantively, and thus various relations of time 
may be shown by them. They can also stand as the 
subject of the sentence (the nominative of the verb), 
a position which the Gerund in Latin cannot occupy. 

Our participles, with the exception of the present 
participle active, are not simple forms, but consist of 
several words. The following are the principal forms, 
which can all be employed substantively, and their 
frequent use in this way forms, as before observed, 
one of the most characteristic features of our language. 

Participles. 

Active Voice. 

Present Writing 

Perfect Having written 

Future Being about to write 

Future Perfect Having been about to write. 

Passive Voice. 

Present Being rewarded 

Perfect Having been rewarded. 

Future Being about to be rewarded. 

Future Perfect Having been about to be re- 
warded. 

The above are the names commonly given by gram- 
marians to the corresponding expressions in other lan- 
guages ; lDut two of them, the Future and the Future Per- 
fect, seem rather inapt, at least when those forms are used 
substantively, for they express a state of being, which. 



VERBAL SUBSTANTIVES, PARTICIPLES, &C. 163 

though contemplating future action, is itself either past or 
actudly existing. 

The forms of the verb that are more especially 
called the '' Infinitives," and which are also commonly 
used substantively, are as follow. 

Infinitives. 

Active Voice. 

Present To write 

Perfect To have written 

Future To be about to write 

Future Perfect To have been about to write. 

Passive Voice. 

Present To be punished 

Perfect To have been punished 

Future To be about to be punished 

Future Perfect To have been about to be pu- 
nished. 

Infinitive phrases, like accessory sentences, may 
assume four distinct characters in the sentence : they 
may be used to indicate the subject or nominative, 
the complement or accusative, definitive or addition, 
and a circumstance or adverbial member of the sen- 
tence. In treating infinitive expressions under these 
various characters, it will be best to follow the order 
observed with accessory sentences, and commence 
with those serving, as definitives, to determine the 
sense of a substantive. 

An infinitive clause, wherever used, is always equi- 
valent to an accessory sentence : — in defining a sub- 
stantive the genius of our language leans to the brevity 
of the verbal substantive, or the infinitive, rather 
than to the more formal method of an entire sentence. 
Let us first take some examples of the 'participial 
substantive. 



164 THE INFINITIVE MOOD. 

Tlie fear, that he might offend^ prevented a fresh application. 
The fear of offending, prevented a fresh application. He 
invented a machine that would sweep the streets. He invented 
a machine for sweeping the streets. A desire of avenging 
the insult impelled him onward. Furnaces /or heating shot 
- were erected on the ramparts. Her surprise at being thus 
accused was natural. Remorse, for having ruined his bene- 
factor, constantly tormented him. The hope of overtaking 
the fugitives was disappointed. He expressed his mortifi- 
cation at having been made the dupe of so shallow an artifice. 
The report of her having been about to be married originated 
thus. The rumour of the vessel's being about to sail was com- 
municated to the governor. 

In the last two sentences, the pupil sees the sense of the 
participial or verbal substantive more closely determined in 
the same way as with other substantives ; in the one by the 
possessive adjective " her," in the other by the substantive 
" vessel's," which is governed in the genitive case by the 
verbal substantive that it defines. 

EXERCISE. 

Lesson 166. — Seek or form twenty sentences, in which 
all the eight participial forms given above are used sub- 
stantively to determine the sense of a substantive, and 
endeavour to define more closely the verbal substantive 
tself by some addition. 

Ex. : All doubt of the Duke's having privately sanctioned th^ 
scheme was thus removed. 

In this example, " having sanctioned," as a substantive, 
governs " Duke's" in the genitive case, while, as a verb, it 
is modified by the adverb "privately," and governs its 
complement *' scheme" in the accusative case. 

Try if you can render the accessory attributive sentences, 
that you wrote as exercises for the 122nd lesson, by parti- 
cipial substantives. 

Ex. : The consciousness of our being responsible agents shotdd 
govern all our actions. The fear of his advice being scoffed 
at kept the lad silent. 

I will now give instances of the substantive defined 
by infinitives, in the ordinary acceptation of the word. 
The only forms that are thus employed are the 
Present Infinitive of each voice. 



VERBAL SUBSTANTIVES, PARTICIPLES, &C. 165 

Ex. : The commandant's threat, that he would fire the 
magazine, greatly alarmed the inhabitants. The com- 
mandant's threat tojire the magazine, greatly alarmed the 
inhabitants. A desire to excel is commendable in youth.- 
The stranger expressed his readines tofolloio us. The wish 
to he admired frequently renders us ridiculous. The obsta- 
cles to be overcome are neither few nor inconsiderable. If 
the bill had no other claim to favour, its tendency quickly 
to abolish an abominable nuisance should prevent its post- 
ponement. 

In the last sentence the meaning of the substantive 
"tendency" is determined by the infinitive " to abolish," 
which as a verb is modified by the adverb '^quickly," and 
governs directly its complement *' nuisance." 



EXERCISE. 

Lesson 167. — Write twenty sentences, in which the 
meaning of the following substantives is determined by 
infinitive moods of .verbs in either voice. 

Attempt, efforts, desire, with, plan, proposal, resolution, 
orders, commission, intention, scheme, engine, duty, 
design, a medicine, recommendation, fund, contribution, 
money, conspiracy, endeavour, determination. 

Ex.: The attempt ^0 raise the vessel has failed. A deter- 
mination to be revenged prevented the acceptance of this 
offer. 

An infinitive very frequently forms the attribute in 
sentences asserting z^Aa^ the subject is. 

Ex, : My present mtention is to j^roceed to Paris. His only 
wish was to be let alone. 



EXERCISE. 

Lesson 168.— Write twenty sentences in which the 
nature of the subject is thus explained by an infinitive ; 
and having accomplished this, try if you can change the 
arrangement by using the particle ** zY " as the apparent 
subject. 

Ex. : It is my present intention to proceed to Paris. 

The next character in which the infinitive forms 
of the verb demand notice is that of the Subject or 
Nominative of the sentence ; a position which they 



166 THE INFINITIVE MOOD. 

frequently occupy ;, especially in colloquial language, 
where other forms of expression would perhaps be 
preferable. 

Ex. : That the King again dissolved the parliament excited 
much discontent. 

Here we have an accessory nominative sentence ; 
but as it is of the act expressed by the accessory verb 
that we speak, as causing the discontent, the parti- 
cipial substantive is frequently used instead of the 
verb. 

£x. : The King's agaia dissolving the parliament excited much 
discontent. 

Here " dissolving " exercises a government both 
as a substantive and a verb : in the first character it 
governs the defining substantive " King's " in the 
genitive case, while as a verb it is determined by the 
adverb " again," and governs directly its complement 
^' parliament " in the accusative case ; and again, as a 
substantive, it is the subject or nominative of the verb 
" excited " in the principal sentence. 

The scholar will have little difficulty in deciding 
when a word is really a participle, and when it is used 
as a substantive. Let him recollect that a participle, 
like an adjective, always belongs to a substantive (or 
some word representing a substantive), whose sense 
it serves to determine more precisely. Whenever, 
therefore, in speaking of an object, we define it by 
some action that it performs, the defining word is a 
participle, but when we speak of the action itself, the 
word becomes a verbal substantive. 

Ex. : Charles, being in the parlour, deranged the plan. 

Here we speak of Charles as the marplot, and 
" being," therefore, is a participle, agreeing with 
Charles in number, gender, and case. 

Ex.: Charles's being in the parlour deranged the plan. 

Hero we speak not of Charles, but of his preseneo 



VERBAL SUBSTANTIVES, PARTICIPLES, Scc. 167 

in the parlour, as disconcerting the parties : " beiag " 
is here a verbal substantive, the subject or nominative 
of the verb " deranged," and governing " Charles's " 
in the genitive case. 

The following are further examples of the parti- 
ciples used substantively, and forming the subject of 
the sentence. 

His having defended the king had rendered him obnoxious to 
the republicans. Her being about to be married was a common 
topic of conversation. Henry's having written the letter 
could not be denied. The moon's being inhabited was the 
subject of discussion. 

EXERCISE. 

Lesson 169. — ^Write twelve sentences having participial 
substantives for their subjects, and afterwards try whether 
you can substitute another substantive for the participial 
phrase, which may sometimes be done with advantage ; as 
with the first two of the sentences just given. 

Ex. : His defence of the king had rendered him obnoxious to 
the republicans. Her approaching marriage was a common 
topic of conversation. 

Lesson 170. — Take the sentences which you have written 
for Lesson 123, and see whether you can employ the parti- 
cipial substantive of the verb of each leading sentence, as 
the nominative of the verb in the relative sentence. 

Ex, : The doctor's having invited a large party has greatly dis- 
pleased his wife. The lad's telling an untruth gravely 
oiFended his master. 

The infinitives are commonly used as the subject of 
a sentence. 

Ex. : To err is hmnan, to forgive divine. To rejoice at the 
misfortunes of others makes a mahgnant spirit. To have 
become so rich must have demanded great perseverance. To 
have been praised would have satisfied him. To avenge an 
injury but places us upon a level with our enemy; to forgive 
it renders us his superior. 

EXERCISE. 

Lesson 171. — Write twelve sentences, employing as 
subjects the infinitives of each voice ; and afterwards invert 



168 The infinitive moop. 

the order of the words by putting the particle "it" in the 
place of the subject. 

JEar. : It marks a malignant spuit to rejoice at the misfortunes 
of others. 

Lesson 172. — Seek twelve examples from any Enghsh 
book of the particle " it," at the head of a sentence, repre- 
senting a following infinitive ; and transpose the latter to 
its place as subject, as with the following sentence from 
Burke. 

Ex. : It must be judged a useless if not an absurd undertaking, 
to lay down rides for caprice, and to set tip for a legislator of 
whims and fancies. To lay down rules for caprice, and to 
set up for a legislator of whims and fancies, must be judged a 
useless if not an absurd undertaking. 

Let US now consider the various forms of the infi- 
nitive mood employed as the complement of a verb 
or an adjective,, beginning with the verb 

The governor denied that he had such a prisoner. 

Here we have an accessory accusative sentence 
forming the complement of the verb " denied." 

The governor denied having such a prisoner. 

Here " having," as a verbal substantive, forms the 
complement of the verb '^ denied," and governs directly 
its own complement " such a prisoner." 

, The following are examples of similar constructions. 

The gardener proposed dragging the pond. The fleet has 
commenced bombarding the town. The patrol proved the 
sentinel's being asleep. Charles will warmly resent your 
having opened his letter. Your uncle thinks of emigrating 
to Australia. 

The participles are sometimes changed into absolute 
substantives by the use of the definite article, when, 
unless defined by some addition, they lose the verbal 
power of governing a complement, and require to be 
followed by the preposition " of." If the verb exer- 
cises its government indirectly, the preposition that in 
reality forms an essential portion of it is preserved in 



VERBAL SUBSTANTIVES, PARTICIPLES, &C. 169 

the compound substantive, but tbe terms are not com- 
monly connected by a byplien. 

Ex. : The gardener proposed the dragging of the pond. We 
are awaiting the breaking up of the ice. These lads require 
the sharpest looking after. The timber on board prevented 
the vesseVs foundering. 

EXERCISE. 

Lesson 173.— Seek in a book or newspaper, or form 
yourself, twelve sentences, in each of which a transitive 
verb is completed by a participial substantive, with its com- 
plement and other adjuncts. 

Ex.: The prince contemplated attacking the town simul- 
taneously by sea and land. Several members opposed the 
speaker's leaving the chair. I object to the minutes being 
read. If the bill had no other object, no other] claim t^ 
favour, its tendency quickly to abolish an abominable 
nuisance ought to prevent its being postponed. 

The complement of a verb is frequently rendered 
by an infinitive mood. 

Ex. : The seamen vainly endeavoured to furl the sails. Cease 
to do evil, learn to do good. They contrived to lull the 
suspicions of the guard. "We intend to start to-morrow 
morning. 

EXERCISE. 

Lesson 174. — Write twenty sentences in which a tran- 
sitive verb is completed by a verb in the infinitive mood. 

Ex. : My sister desires to he kindly remembered to you. 

When a verb in the active voice takes as its second 
complement a verb in the infinitive mood, this infi- 
nitive may be employed to complete the sense of the 
verb in the passive voice. 

Ex. : William's good conduct induced his father to grant his 
request. William's father was induced by his good conduct 
to grant his request. In this country a child is taught to 
%oorship wealth and its possessors before he can learn any 
thing else. The child was destined to become the founder 
of a powerful dynasty. 

Lesson 137. — Write twenty sentences in which the sense 

I 



170 THE INFINITIVE MOOD. 

of a verb in the passive voice is completed by another verb 
in the infinitive mood. 

Ex. : The vessel was intended to ply between Richmond and 
London. You were told to write your exercises legibly. 

Instead of employing a full accusative accessory 
sentence to complete the sense of verbs predicating 
assertions, opi?iio?is,imshes,&c., we commonly put the 
subordinate verb into the infinitive mood, omitting the 
conjunction " that," and changing the words represent- 
ing the subject of the accessory sentence, and therefore 
the nominative of its verb^ into the accusative case. 

Ex. : Ignorant people believe that grmnmm' is useless. 

Here ^^ grammar," as the subject of "is," is in the 
nominative case. 

Ex.: Ignorant people believe grammar to be useless. 

Here the conjunction, "that," is omitted, and 
" grammar " is in the accusative case ; and as the 
verb cannot predicate without a nominative (its real 
subject, "grammar," being in the accusative), it is 
put into the infinitive mood. 

Ex. : Ignorant people believe grammar useless. 

Here we see ellipsis both of the conjunction and of 
the auxiliary verb ; which latter can, however, only 
take place with the substantive verb. 

If, instead of a substantive, a personal pronoun be 
employed in the accessory sentence, the change of 
case in the subject of the subordinate sentence 
becomes visible. 

Ex. : The jury declared that he was innocent. 
The jury declared him to be innocent. 
The jury declared him innocent. 

This construction of the accusative before an in- 
finitive, which is unknown in some modern languages, 
was much more frequent in the Latin than it is with, 
us. The following sentences contain examples of 
adjective verbs that take such a complement. 



VERBAL SUBSTANTIVES, PARTICIPLES, &C. 171 

Ex. : The maxim directs, that we should live and learn. The 
maxim, directs us to live and learn. The judges ordered, 
that the constables should remove the disturbers from the 
court. The judges ordered the constables to remove the 
disturbers from the court. The captors believed, that 
the fugitives had buried considerable treasures. The 
captors believed the fugitives to have buried considerable 
treasures. 



Lesson 176. — Write twelve sentences, in which the 
sense of a verb is completed by a substantive or pronoun 
in the accusative case, followed by a verb in the infinitive 
mood ; and afterwards write the same sentences with a full 
accessory accusative sentence. 

Ex. : The neighbours asserted him (to be J insane. The neigh- 
bours asserted, that he was insane. Every goose thinks 
hei: own yoimg (to be J swans. Every goose thinks that her 
own young are swans. 

Lesson 177. — Write twelve complex sentences in which 
an accusative sentence, with a verb in the passive voice, 
admits ellipsis of the conjunction, a change of the subject 
from the nominative to the accusative case, and the 
omission of the verb to be; when you will perceive a change 
of case in the following participle : — 

Ex. : The parents wished, that the child should be named 
Alice. The parents wished the child (to be) named Alice. 

Lesson 178. — Take (1) the sentences which you have 
written for Lesson 144, and try whether you can render 
the accessory accusative sentences by infinitive clauses ; 

Ex. : Connoiseurs had pronounced this picture to be a copy : 

and then (2) write twelve complex sentences, in which an 
active transitive verb, of the accessory sentence, can be 
thus rendered by the infinitive. 

Ex. : The maishal commanded, that a body of picked men 
should storm the breach shortly before day-break. The 
marshal commanded a body of picked men to storm the 
breach shortly before day-break. 

The infimtive is sometimes used where tlie predi- 
catilig form of the verb would be preferable, as seems 



172 THE INFINITIVE MOOD. 

to be the case in the following sentence from Br. 
Johnson's E-asselas : — 

" This, sir, is one of the dangers of sohtude, which the 
hermit has confessed not always to promote goodness ; and 
the astronomer's misery has proved to be not always pro- 
pitious to wisdom." 

I will now give examples of governing adjectives 
completed by verbal substantives. 

Ex. : My brother is incapable of committing such an act. Con- 
scious of her approaching end, she v/as desirous ofreturninj 
home. 



EXERCISE. 

Lesson 179. — Write sentences in which the sense of the 
following adjectives is completed by a participial substantive, 
with complement, circumstance, &c. 

Ex.: Capable, incapable, desirous, fearful, guilty, innocent, 
afraid, conscious, unconscious, sure, certain, prone, averse, 
fond, sick, proud, ashamed, sorry, worthy, unworthy, 
apprehensive. 

The sense of a governing adjective is sometimes 
completed by an infinitive. 

Ex. : The police have hitherto been unable to trace the fugi- 
tives. The depth of water was sufficient to float a ship of 
the line. He was afraid to proceed, and ashamed to return. 

EXERCISE. 

Lesson 180. — Write sentences in which the sense of the 
following adjectives is completed by an infinitive. 

Ex. : Able, unable, incompetent, afraid, liable, sufficient, in- 
sufficient, free, competent, apt, prone, anxious, desirous, 
solicitous, reluctant, willing, xmwilling, ready, loath, 
prompt, slow. 

The circumstance of the action is frequently ex- 
pressed by a verbal substantive, instead of a full 
accessory sentence. The following are examples of 
circumstances of time thus expressed : — 

Ex. : Before starting, v,^e took some refreshment. After having 
dined, we visited the House of Commons. Before eating we 



VERBAL SUBSTANTIVES, PARTICIPLES, &C. 173 

should ask a blessing. On reaching the bridge he found a 
large crowd. On learning the defection of his soldiers, the 
Count surrendered to the Prussians. 

When the participial substantive governs a comple- 
ment, expressing incidentally a locality, the clause 
seems to show a circumstance of place rather than of 
time ; but, if strictly examined, it will generally be 
found to answer to the question, "when?" 

Ex.: On crossing the Atlantic we saw many flying fish. On 
entering the bay the lighthouse stands to the left. You 
must, on reaching the great oak, take the path across the 
fields. The poor woman had lost her way in traversing the 
heath. 

If the pupil ask the question, "where?" with any 
of the above verbs, he will find that, to express the 
locality, the answer will require the governed sub- 
stantive, and not the participial substantive, which 
expresses only the time. 

Lesson 181. — Write twenty sentences, in which a cir- 
cumstance of time is expressed by a participial substantive 
with or without complement. 

Ex. : On sounding the pumps, it was discovered that the ship 
was leaking. 

Circumstances of manner are very commonly ex- 
pressed by participial substantives. 

Ex. : The idle often hinder the diligent, by paying them un- 
seasonable visits. He lost a handsome fortune by opposing 
his uncle's whims. The cook vented his spleen in beating 
the scullion. The subscribed capital will all be wasted in 
making experiments. 



Lesson 182. — Write twenty sentences, in which a cir- 
cumstance of manner is expressed by a participial substan- 
tive, defined by an adverb, and governing a complement. 

Ex.: Her Majesty has honoured this distinguished artist by 
repeatedly sitting to him for her portrait. The woodman broke 
his arm by accidentally falling from a tree. 



174 THE INFINITIVE MOOD. 

Wlien the manner of tlie action is described by an 
eiFect that it produces, the circumstance is frequently 
expressed by the infinitive of the accessory verb, in- 
stead of by a fully formed sentence ; but the latter 
form is generally preferable. 

Ex. : The fog is so thick as to render the path invisible. The 
rebels placed some carriages so, as entirely to block tip the 
bridge. 

EXERCISE. 

Lesson 183. — Write twenty sentences, in which a cir- 
cumstance of manner, shown as a consequence of the prin- 
cipal verb, is expressed by an infinitive phrase. 

Ex.: The postlad was so seriously injured, as to render his 
recovery hopeless. 

The origin or ground of the action predicated by 
the principal verb is very frequently expressed by a 
participial substantive or other infinitive. Let us first 
cite some examples of the former. 

Ea;.: Several sailors were arrested for having assaulted the 
police. From neglecting his business he fell into great dis- 
tress. He sharply rebuked the viceroy /or temporizing with 
the malcontents. 

Sometimes it is almost indifferent whether such a 
clause be regarded as expressing the ground or the 
manner of the action : the former commonly answers 
to the question " whence ?" the letter to the question 
"how?" 

In some such sentences the origin is not so clearly 
expressed, but is rather left to be inferred. 

Ex. : From snaring hares and dragging fish-ponds, they pro- 
ceeded to robbing orchards and plundering hen-roosts. 

Sometimes the inference is more direct. 

Ex. : From the mercury's rising the weather will change. I 
suppose, from the bells' ringing^ that the duke has arrived. 

EXERCISE. 

Lesson 184. — Write twenty sentences, in which the 
origin or ground of the judgment asserted by the principal 



THE CASE ABSOLUTE. 175 

sentence is expressed by a participial substantive, with its 
adjuncts. 

E,r. : The lad knows something about it, by his blushing so 
deeply. 

The motive for an action, which ranks among cir- 
cumstances of origin, is frequently expressed by an 
infinitive. 

Ea;. : Man eats to live. He shutteth his eyes to devise froward 
things. 

Lesson 185.-— Write twenty sentences, in which a cir- 
cumstance of ground or origin is expressed by a verb in the 
infinitive mood. 

Ej;. : We should spare in youth to provide for age. 

Take the sentences which you have written for Lessori 
161, and try whether you can render the verbs of the 
accessory sentences by the infinitive mood. 

Ex. : The arbitrator stated this circumstance, to show the 
ground of his award. 



SECTION XVIII. 

THS CASE ABSOLUTE. 

When, in speaking of actions emanating from tivo 
(liferent subjects, the one is regarded as more or less 
directly causal of the other, the less important action, 
instead of being asserted, is very commonly expressed 
by a participle. This form of expression, in which a 
substantive, or any other word representing an object, 
stands in the nominative case without a verb predi- 
cating of it, is, for that reason, called the Case 
Absolute. 

Ex. : The king having died, the ParHament was dissolved. The 
rain falling in torrents, we were drenched to the skin. The 
ice giving way, the whole party were droivned. The •packet 
being about to sail, I must conclude my letter. 

EXERCISE. 

Lesson 186. — Write twenty sentences, narrating facts 



176 MODAL ADVERBS AND SENTENCES, 

from the History of England, each containing a circum- 
stance, expressed by the case absolute. 

Ex. : Mary being dead, the Princess Elizabeth was released 
from the Tower, 



SECTION XIX. 

mo'da.Im adverbs and sentences^ 
and interjections. 

Grammatical Mood, as has been explained (Chap- 
ter I., Section IX.), is expressed by the auxiliary verbs 
of mood, may, can, shall, icill, must, ought, and let. 
There are, however, besides these auxiliary verbs, a 
few words that serve to qualify the manner of the 
assertion, and which may be called Adverbs of Mood, 
by whose aid we are enabled to express, in a simple 
sentence, certain modifications of thought, that, in the 
absence of such words, could in many cases only be 
conveyed by a subordinately combined complex sen- 
tence. 

Ex. : The messenger is perhaps detained by the floods. The 
foolish lad had probably acted without reflection. Surely 
your brother has not taken the other road. Cry aloud, for 
he is a god : either he is talking, or he is pursuing, or he is 
in a journey, or per-adventure he sleepeth. 

Here the force of the assertion is modified by the 
expression of a greater or less degree of doubt in the 
mind of the speaker : and the adverb is equivalent to 
a verb with its attribute, predicating of an accessory 
nominative sentence. 

Ea;. : That the messenger is detained by the floods is possible. 

In the following sentences adverbs are introduced, 
that strengthen the assertion, by showing the con- 
viction of the speaker as to the truth of what he is 
uttering. 



AXD INTERJECTICIS'?. 



177 



Ec. • Your father will certainly come. Positively you shall 
not leave us yet. The new singer has decidedly ■m-a,^e a 
great hit. Doubtless the farm is highly rented ; but then 
the land is very productive. 

Here the words in italics modify the assertion, and 
not the manner of the action : it is not asserted that 
your father will come in safety, but the adverb shows 
the firm belief of the speaker that he will come as 
expected. 

Ex. : That your father will come is certain. 

In narrating what another person says, if we would 
give especial prominence to the fact thus asserted, 
instead of rendering it, by an accessory accusative 
sentence, completive of an introductory sentence, we 
interpolate the latter in the quoted assertion (as was 
before shown in Chapter IV., Section X., p. 144, 
treating of accessory accusative sentences) ; and thus, 
by showing our authority for the assertion, divest our- 
selves of responsibility for its truth. 

Ex. • Neither she nor her children had, as she solemnly declared, 
tasted food for upwards of six and thirty hours. 

Where a sentence like this is introduced solely to 
qualify the force of the assertion, it may be regarded 
as an adverbial sentence of mood. 

EXERCISE. 

LESSOit 187.— Write twenty sentences, in which the force 
of the assertion is modified by the introduction of an adverb 
of mood. 

Es.: I would assuredly travel, were I rich. Could he see 
himself tipsy, he mi^t perhaps reform. 

''Yes" and "No," which are called responsive 
adverbs, may be classed with modal adverbs; for 
several of the latter are often used, instead of those 
two words, in answering questions. These words are 
the equivalent of the whole interrogatory sentence 
repeated with affirmation or negation of the fact m- 

quired after. 

I 5 



178 RECAPITULATORY OBSERVATIONS 

Bx. : Do you know Mr. B. ? Yes. = I know Mr. B. Can you 
give me change for a sovereign ? No. = I cannot give you 
change for a sovereign. Will jou lend me your dictionarj'- ? 
Certainly. = I will lend you my dictionary. 

" Not/' changing the assertion from affirmative to 
negative, is a Modal Adverb. 

EXERCISE. 

Lesson 188. — Write twenty questions, and let each be 
followed by an adverb responsive to the question asked. 

E^\ : Shall you go the Opera to-night ? Unquestionably. 

Interjections are words thrown into discourse 
to express some emotion of the mind, as joy, pain, 
grief, su7pri.se, &c. Oh ! ah ! alas ! lo ! look ! see ! 
strange ! zounds ! adzooks ! &c., are classed as inter- 
jections; some of which are, however, the impera- 
tives of verbs. They embody, in a sole exclamation, 
a sentiment that is the equivalent of an entire sen- 
tence. Some few adverbs of place are thus used as 
imperatives: hence! away! off! There! is used to 
express surprise, admiration, &c. Such terms are 
followed in writing by a Note of Exclamation ( ! ) 
As Interjections and other ejaculatory expressions 
exercise no grammatical influence, it would be useless 
to dilate upon them. 



SECTION XX. 

RECAPITULATORY OBSERVATIOHS 
UFOST COMFIiEX SENTEl^CBS. 

Complex sentences have been divided into, 

1. Co-ordinately combined Complex Sentences; 
consisting of two or more simple sentences, connected 
co-ordinately as principal sentences. 

2. Subordinately combined Complex Sentences; 
in which an accessory sentence is dependent on or 



UPON COMPLEX SENTENCES. 179 

subordinate to a principal sentence, of which it forms 
but a clause or member. 

These accessory sentences have been divided, ac- 
cording to the member of the principal sentence whose 
functions they perform, into 

Nominative Sentences (Subject). 
Accusative Sentences (Complement). 
Attributive Sentences (Addition). / 

Adverbial Sentences (Circumstance). 

The verb, one of the principal members of the 
sentence, upon which indeed its very existence as a 
sentence depends, cannot be expressed by an accessory 
sentence. 

The words forming a sentence may be regarded in 
two different characters. 

1. They may be regarded as Parts of Speech; 
and in what is called Parsing, the pupil is expected 
to tell, in succession, what part of speech each word 
in the given sentence is ; whether pronoun, adjective, 
substantive, Sec. The power to render such an account 
of the character of words may co -exist, to a very 
great extent, with an almost total ignorance of gram- 
matical principles, and is therefore an attainment of 
very trifling value. 

2. The words composing a sentence maybe regarded 
as constituent members of the sentence ; and it is the 
ability to recognize the true character of words in this 
respect, that is so powerful an auxiliary to the gram- 
marian in the acquisition of other languages. Instead 
of caring what kind of a ivord such or such a term 
may be, let the pupil consider what kind of a clause 
it is, and determine whether it be Subject, Predicate, 
Complement, Attribute, or Circumstance. 

These remarks upon the syntactical character of words, 
as distinguished from their etymological one, that is the 
consideration of what clause of a sentence a word consti- 
tutes, rather than what part of speech it is, should have 
been introduced at the close of the eighteenth section of 



180 EXTENDED COMPLEX SENTENCES. 

Chapter II., containing recapitulatory observations upon 
the members of the simple sentence. They were there, by 
oversight, omitted ; but they are scarcely out of place here, 
in reviewing the syntactical or clausal character of the 
accessory sentences of a complex sentence. 

Accessory sentences are but clauses of the principal 
sentence to which tliey are attached; and the chief 
thing to be looked to, in considering them, is the deter- 
mination of their true character as constituent mem- 
bers of the principal sentence. As has been explained 
in the last section, these subordinate members are, in 
English, frequently abridged by the substitution of 
various infinitive forms for the predicating verb ; and 
the pupil might employ his time very profitably in 
practising the substitution of one mode of expression 
for the other, in passages selected at random from the 
books which he reads. Sentences in every language 
must consist of the same members, though often dif- 
ferently expressed : it is in a great measure upon the 
mode of their expression that the genius of a lan- 
guage depends, and it is the faculty of appreciating 
these peculiarities promptly and accurately that con- 
stitutes the grammarian. The ability to translate 
justly, which may be called The Science of Equivalent 
Expressions, will never be attained by confining the 
attention to individual words, instead of regarding the 
sentence as a whole. 



SECTION XXI. 
EXTSNDBD COlMCPZiEX SBNTENCBS. 

The complex sentence may consist of more than 
two simple sentences. Several, and even many, 
simple sentences may be connected in one extensive 
complex sentence, of which examples may be found 
in every book that the pupil takes in hand. 

I will illustrate this remark by a few examples, 



EXTENDED COMPLEX SENTENCES. 181 

beginning with instances in which three sentences are 
so connected. 

1. Three principal sentences connected together. 

God is gracious, his mercy is everlasting, and his truth 
endureth from generation to generation. Wisdom is the 
principal thing, therefore get wisdom; and, with all thy 
wisdom, get understanding. A prince can grant titles, or 
wealth may purchase them, but virtue alone ennobles man. 

2. Two principal sentences and one accessory one. 

The earth, which we inhabit, is very large, but the sun 
greatly exceeds it in magnitude. ISIen believe their eyes 
more than they do their ears ; therefore example is stronger 
than precept. If no man were a liar, oaths would be need- 
less, and truth and faith would inhabit all the earth. Con- 
science tells every man what is right and wrong, but all do 
not listen to its voice. 

3. One principal and two accessory sentences. 

Language, which is the expression of our thoughts, distin- 
guishes man from the brutes, that can neither think nor 
speak. The consciousness that we have done our duty, 
will console us, even if our efforts are unsuccessful. The 
mind that is uncultivated, resembles a diamond that is 
unpolished. 

The accessory sentences just given relate to different 
members of the principal sentence. 

4. Religion tells us that our stay on earth is short, but that 
our life hereafter will be eternal. The conviction, that we 
shall meet again, and that we shall be no more separated, 
should console us for the death of our dearest friends. It 
has been well observed, that fortune may deprive us of our 
wealth, but that our knowledge is beyond her reach. 

These accessory sentences relate to a common mem- 
ber of the principal sentence, and are, therefore, co- 
ordinate with each other. 

5. That man is just who has, in every station, fulfilled all the 
duties that have devolved upon him. He is brave that 
speaks the truth, where truth-telling is dangerous. We 
should never forget, that this earth is not a home where we 
can be truly happy. He who assists us when we are in 
need, is a true friend. 

In these examples the first accessory sentence de- 
pends on the principal sentence; but the second 



182 EXTENDED COMPLEX SENTENCE^. 

accessory sentence being dependent on tlie first, of 
wliicli, in fact, it is but a clause, is therefore subor- 
dinate to it. 

I will now show instances wherein four, five, and 
more sentences are combined, so as to form one ex- 
tensive complex sentence, at the same time reminding 
the pupil, that from the laconic genius of our people 
having displayed itself in our language, we mostly 
find, in such combinations, one or more of the actions 
spoken of, expressed, for the sake of conciseness, by 
a participle, a participial substantive, or other infini- 
tive. Such infinitive expressions, if closely scruti- 
nized, will always be found equivalent to an accessory 
sentence, forming a member of some other sentence. 

4. "We eat, that we may live ; we do not live, that we may 
eat. Make hay while the sun shines, for who knows that 
to-morrow Avill be faii\ Ingratitude is a crime so shameful, 
that no man was ever found who would acknowledge that 
he was himself guilty of it. Honour thy father with thy 
whole heart, and forget not the sorrows of thy mother ; for 
how canst thou recompense them the things that they have 
done for thee ? 

5. If fortune favours a good man, he will receive her favours 
-wdth fear and jealousy, lest he should be corrupted by them, 
and so forget that this world is not his home. Rhetorical 
embellishments in serious discourses are like flowers in corn ; 
they please those who seek amusement, but injure him who 
would reap profit. 

6. It often happens that they are the best people who have 
been the most slandered, as we usually 'find, that that is the 
sweetest fruit which the birds have most pecked at. "I 
am positive," wo-ites Sterne, " that I have a soul ; nor can 
all the books with which materialists have pestered the 
world, ever convince me that it is not so." 

7. In the morning of our days when the senses are unworn 
and tender, when the whole man is awake in every part, 
and the gloss of novelty (is) fresh upon all the objects that 
surround us, how lively at that time are our sensations, 
but how false and inaccurate (are) the judgments (which) 
we form of things. 

10. " To knoio any thing," returned the poet, " we must Jcnow 
its effects; to see men, we must see their works, that we 
may learn what reason has dictated, or passion has incited, 
and find what are the most powerful motives of action." 

16. It must he acknowledged, that the methods of disquisition 
and teaching mai/ be sometimes different, and (mai/ be so) 
on very good reasons undoubtedly : but, for my part, / am 



EXTENDED COMPLEX SENTENCES. 183 

convinced that the method of teaching which approaches 
most nearly to the method of investigation, is incomparably 
the best ; since not content with serving up a few barren 
and lifeless truths, it leads to the stock on wbuch they rirew; 
it tends to set the reader himself in the track of invention, 
and to direct him into those paths, in which the author has 
made his own discoveries, if he should he so happy as to 
have made any that are valuable. 

. In the two last examples I have reckoned infinitive 
clauses as accessory sentences. 

A speaker may thus combine almost any number of 
sentences into one great whole, having scarcely any 
other limit than the desire which he feels of not ren- 
dering himself unintelligible. Unusually long com- 
binations should however 'be avoided, for nothing is 
more irksome to a listener than a mazy interlacing of 
sentences, requiring the attention to be ever on the 
stretch, in order to track the complicated windings of 
the thought. Besides, innumerable instances might 
be cited, from authors of the highest re]3utation, of 
lengthened constructions of this kind that will not bear 
the test of grammatical analysis. In argumentative 
discourse, the language may be divided into sentences 
wholly independent of each other in a grammatical 
point of view, while yet the chain of reasoning is 
maintained by a series of conjunctions. In this way 
we frequently find a sentence beginning with " but,^^ 
" now,^' '^ again,^'' '' and^^ &c., serving to maintain the 
continuity of the argument without in 'any manner 
connecting the propositions in a grammatical relation 
to each other. 

The reduction of a compound or complex sentence 
into the simple propositions or individual sentences of 
which it is composed, is called Grammatical A 1% a l y sis, 
and is an exercise very efficient in- rendering the pupil 
familiar with the construction of language. In co- 
ordinately combined complex sentences this operation 
presents little difiaculty ; but in subordinately com- 
bined complex sentences the accessory sentences are, 
frequently, not propositions at all, or form so essential 



184 EXTENDED COMPLEX SENTENCES. 

a portion of some other sentence as to be inseparable 
from it : for instance, sentences put hypotbetically as 
the ground of another sentence cannot, of course, 
stand alone. Bearing these observations in mind, let 
the pupil attempt the following exercises, in perform- 
ing which he may, to a considerable extent, use his 
own discretion in determining the order in which he 
will take the constituent sentences of the complex 
sentence. 

EXERCISE. 

Lesson 189. — Take the sentences given as examples in 
paragraphs 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 of the present section, and reduce 
them, as far as possible, into the simple propositions or 
sentences of which they consist. 

Ex. : God is gracious. God's mercy is everlasting. God's 
truth endureth from generation to generation. 

The earth is very large. "We inhabit the earth. The 
sun greatly exceeds the earth in magnitude. 

Lesson 190. — Take the complex sentences given above 
as containing 4, 5, 6, 7, 10, and 16 constituent sentences, 
and reduce them into as many simple sentences as you can. 
With some of them you will be unable to form as many 
independent sentences as the whole one contains, while 
with others more may be found. 

Ex. : Rhetorical embellishments in serious discourses are like 
flowers in corn. Rhetorical embellishments in serious dis- 
courses please those who seek amusement. Rhetorical 
embellishments in serious discourses injure him who would 
reap profit. Flowers in corn are like rhetorical embellish- 
ments in serious discourses. Flowers in com please those 
who seek amusement. Flowers in corn injure him who 
would reap profit. 

Lesson 191. — Take a page, or any moderate portion of 
an English book, and analyse it grammatically, by reducing 
the sentences, as they present themselves, into as many 
independent propositions as you possibly can. 

Synthesis is the reverse of Analysis, and is the 

combining in an extended sentence two or more 

simple propositions. 

Ex. : Nothing can atone for the want of modesty. Without 
modesty beauty is ungraceful. Without modesty wit is 

detestable. 



EXTENDED COMPLEX SENTENXES. 18o 

Nothing can atone for tlie want of modesty, without 
which beauty is ungraceful and wit detestable. 

EXERCISE. 

Lesson 192. — Combine the following sentences in such 
a way that each series may form a complex sentence ; in 
effecting which you will employ conjmictions, participles, 
the participial substantive, infinitives, or the case absolute, 
as may best suit your purpose. 

1. The turnip is a very wholesome root. The turnip is 
extensively cultivated in England. The turnip serves as 
food for all kinds of cattle. 

2. Printing was unknown to the ancients. Printing has 
greatly diminished the cost of books. Printing has power- 
fully assisted the diffusion of knowledge. 

3. Sugar is a nutritious article of food. Sugar is obtained 
in Europe from the beetroot. Sugar is a staple production 
of the West Indies. Sugar is, in the West Indies, produced 
from the sugar-cane. The sugar-cane is extensively culti- 
vated in the West Indies. 

4. Man is a rational animal. Man is endowed with the 
highest capacity for happiness. Man sometimes mistakes 
his best interests. Man sometimes pm-sues trifles with all 
his energies. Man considers trifles as the principal objects 
of desire in this fleeting world. 

o. On his way he is met by a seer. The seer, according to 
popidar belief, had the gift of prophecy. The seer fore- 
warns him of the disastrous event of his enterprise. The 
seer exhorts him to return home. The seer exhorts him 
not to be involved in certain destruction. Certain destruc- 
tion awaited the cause. Certain destruction afterwards fell 
upon it at the battle of Culloden. 

6. The statue of Canning stands in the Exchange at Liver- 
pool. The statue is of marble. The marble came from 
Italy. Italy produces the finest specimens of marble. The 
statue was executed by Chantry. Chantry is one of the 
most celebrated sculptors of the age. Chantry resides in 
London. 

7. The art of writing contributes much to the convenience of 
mankind. The art of writing contributes much to the 
necessity of mankind. The art of writing was not invented 
all at once. Mankind proceeded by slow degrees in the 
discovery of the art of writing. Pictures were the first 
step towards the art of writing. Hieroglyphics were the 
second step towards the art of ivriting. An alphabet of 
syllables followed the use of hieroglyphics. At last Cadmus 
brought the alphabet from Phoenicia into Greece. The 
alphabet had been used for some in Phoenicia. A number of 
new letters were added to the alphabet during the Trojan 
war. At length the alphabet became sufficiently compre- 
hensive to embrace all the sounds of the language. 



186 EXTENDED COMPLEX SENTENCES. 

The pupil who has wrought through all the lessons 
of this work must, as far as grammar is concerned;, be 
fully qualified to express himself readily and cor- 
rectly, and should now exercise himself in compo- 
sition. Should he have proceeded thus far without 
having commenced the study of another language, I 
strongly recommend him to set about that study imme- 
diately : for, although firmly convinced that grammar 
can only be soilndly taught in the language in which 
the pupil thinks, I still believe that it cannot be com.- 
pletely taught in any single language. The know- 
ledge which he already possesses will considerably 
shorten the labour, while the lucid illustrations which 
other tongues afiford of principles, that, from the bold 
character of our language, can scarcely be clearly 
exemplified in English, will afford much intellectual 
enjoyment. His intimate acquaintance with the 
principles of Universal Grammar will enable him 
promptly to master the ordinary construction of a 
language ; and, for the same reason, exceptional and 
idiomatic expressions will, by their very divergence 
from those principles, be both correctly appreciated 
and easily remembered. 

A careful perusal of the following chapter upon 
Etymology, will help to ^x. the pupil's notions of 
words in their individual characters. 



18' 



C H A P T E R V. 
ETYMOLOGY. 

SECTION I. 
OP THE VARIOUS KIPIDS OP %^OHDS. 

Having exhibited, in the preceding chapters, the 
various combinations of words by which the opera- 
tions of the mind are communicated in our language, 
I now propose to examine the various kinds of words, 
considered individually as Parts of Speech ; and to 
exhibit the changes which some of them undergo in 
order to show certain grammatical relations. This 
portion of grammar is named Etymology. 

Our grammarians commonly reckon Nine Parts of 
Speech, named: — 1. The Substantive or Noun. 
2. The Pronoun. 3. The Adjective. 4. The Ar- 
ticle. 5. The Verb. 6. The Adverb. 7. The 
Preposition. 8. The Conjunction. 9. The In- 
terjection. 

Of these the articles, merely serving as definitives, 
will be classed with adjectives ; while interjections, 
being the expression of passion rather than of reason, 
scarcely deserve to be ranked as words at all. 

Other grammarians assign to the Participle the 
honour of a distinct part of speech. 

Beginning with the substantive, let us proceed to 
consider, in succession, the peculiarities of each of the 
classes of words just enumerated. 



188 OF THE SUBSTANTIVE OR NOUN, 

SECTION II. 
OP THE SUBSTANTIVE OR NOUN, 

Every word that serves to name any object what-, 
ever is a substantive. 

Ex. : Father, mother, son, daughter, horse, cow, sailor, cat, 
door, house, sea, wool, bone, field, factory, mine. 

Certain substantives serve to designate particular 
objects^ and thus distinguish individual things from 
others of the same species. 

Ex.: Henry, George, Emma, Jane, Caesar, Homer, Yirgil, 
London, Paris, Holland, Spain, Thames, Seinfe, Jamaica, 
Alps. 

Such substantives are called Proper Names. 

Others serve as a name for all the individual objects 
of a race, as with the substantives /a^Aer, mother, &c., 
given above. The words which thus serve to name 
a class are called Appellatives or Common 
Names. 

Some substantives name Qualities, Virtues, Vices, 
Sciences, &c., apart from any object in which they 
exist. 

Ex. : Industry, patience, praise, blame, knowledge, skill, 
science, reverence, crime, union, discord, indivisibility. 

Substantives which thus, as it were, embody ideal 
things, are called Abstract Nouns. 

Many substantives name a collection or aggregate 
of individual things considered as a ivhole. 

Ex. : Crowd, army, committee, herd, congregation, the clergy, 
the court, the bar. 

These are termed Collective Suhstantives, or 
Nouns or Multitude. 

OF NUMBEU. 

The common name, belonging equally to every 
member of a species, may be applied to an individual. 



OF THE SUBSTANTIVE OR NOUN. 



189 



or it may be applied to several members of a class ; 
and in order to show whether one, or more than one 
object be spoken of, the substantive has two forms, 
called the Singular and the Plural. 

The subject of number and the manner of its ex- 
pression have been fully explained in Chapter I., 
Section II., p. 11, 12, to which the scholar is referred. 

He will there find, among other things, examples of sub- 
stantives that name objects whose constituent particles are 
so minute as to preclude numeration, and of which some 
have only the form of the singular number, others only 
that of the plural. To the words there given, as being of 
both numbers, may be added the Latin words apparatus, 
hiatus. Mehns is also found of both numbers : news and 
victuals are now always followed by a verb in the singular ; 
and provisions, in the sense of articles of food, and goods, 
meaning articles of commerce or worldly possessions, are 
both of the plural number. 

The following substantives derived from the ancient 
languages form their plural number in a peculiar 
manner ; but those to which the letter E, is attached 
have also the regularly formed plural. 

Plural. 
errata 
genii R. 
genera 
hypotheses 
indices E,. 
laminae 
magi 
media R. 
memoranda R. 
metamorphoses 
phenomena 
radii 
seraphim 
stamina 
strata 
vortices 

Of the above, genii signify aerial beings, geniuses per- 
sons of genius : indices are algebraic signs, and indexes 
tables of contents. 



Singidar. 


Plural. 


Singular. 


antithesis 


antitheses 


erratum 


appendix 


appendices R. 


genius 


arcanum 


arcana 


genus 


automaton 


automata R. 


hypothesis 


axis 


axes 


index 


basis 


bases 


lamina 


calx 


calces 


magus 


cherub 


cherubim 


mediimi 


crisis 


crises 


memorandum 


criterion 


criteria 


metamorphosis 


datum 


data 


phenomenon 


diaeresis 


diaereses 


radius 


effluvium 


effluvia 


seraph 


ellipsis 


ellipses 


stamen 


emphasis 


emphases 


stratum 


encomium 


encomia R. 


vortex 



190 



OF THE SUBSTANTIVE Oil NOUN. 



Other substantives might be cited^ of frequent use in 
society, which, borrowed from foreign languages, exhibit 
some irregularity as to number, as cognoscenti from the 
Italian, &c. ; but those who aspire to use them, should 
qualify themselves to do so by studying the languages from 
which they are derived. 

or GENDEK. 

There are, in English grammar, three genders ; the 
Masculine^ the Feminine, and the Neuter Gender: 
the first distinctive of male, the second of female 
animals. The neuter (or neither) gender is attributed 
to objects without life, and to living objects where the 
sex is uncertain. ' ^ 

English substantives of themselves mark the gender 
in two ways. 

1 . By entirely distinct names for male and female ani- 
mals of the same species. The following is a list of such 
words :— 



Masculine. 


Feminine. 


Masculine. 


Feminine 


bachelor 


spinster 


king 


queen 


boar 


sow 


lad 


lass 


boy 


girl 


lord 


lady 


brother 


sister 


man 


woman 


buck 


doe 


master 


mistress 


bull 


cow 


milter 


spawner 


cock 


hen 


monk 


nun 


dog 


bitch 


nephew 


niece 


drake 


duck 


ram 


ewe 


earl 


countess 


sloven 


slut 


father 


mother 


son 


daughter 


gander 


goose 


steer 


heifer 


hart 


roe 


stag 


hind 


horse 


mare 


uncle 


aunt 


husband 


v,'ife 


wizard 


witch 



2. By a diiference of termination in the appellative sub- 
stantive, the ending distinctive of the feminine gender 
being, generally, the syllable "ess." The following are 
the words of this class commonly in use, but others may 
be met with in reading. 



OF THE SUBSTANTIVE OR NOUK 



191 



Masculine. 


Fetninine. 


Masculine. 


Feminine. 


abbot 


abbess 


landgrave 


landgravine 


actor 


actress 


leopard 


leopardess 


administrator 


administratrix 


lion 


lioness 


adulterer 


adultress 


marquis 


marchioness 


ambassador 


ambassadress 


mayor 


mayoress 


arbiter 


arbitress 


neg^ro 


negress 


baron 


baroness 


patron 


patroness 


benefactor 


benefactress 


peer 


peeress 


bridegroom 


bride 


poet 


poetess 


conductor 


conductress 


priest 


priestess 


count 


countess 


prince 


princess 


duke 


duchess 


prior 


prioress 


elector 


electress 


prophet 


prophetess 


emperor 


empress 


protector 


protectress 


enchanter 


enchantress 


shepherd 


shepherdess 


executor 


executrix 


songster 


songstress 


god 


goddess 


sorcerer 


sorceress 


governor 


governess 


sultan 


f sultana 
\ sultaness 


heir 


heiress 


hero 


heroine 


tiger 


tigress 


host 


hostess 


traitor 


traitress 


hunter 


huntress 


viscount 


vicountess 


jew 


Jewess 


widower 


widow 



To certain substantives we assign gender almost uncon- 
sciously, from the sex of those who commonly fill the 
offices which they name : thus pilot, smith, tailor, warrior, 
are instinctively regarded as masculine ; while milliner, 
nurse, &c,, naturally suggest the idea of a female. Although 
the feminine substantive shepherdess is in general use, the 
root itself and its other derivatives have not this termina- 
tion — at least I have never met with herdess, goatherdess, 
or swineherdess . The masculine of laundress and sempstress 
is not generally used. Other appellatives of woman have 
no corresponding term for the male sex ; as, crone, hag, 
maid, scold, termagant, virago, virgin, vixen, &c. 



The number of English substantives that positively 
mark gender by a distinctive termination, is very 
limited. When we would show the gender of a noun 
that names both sexes, and which is therefore said 
to be of Common Gender, as friend^ child, pheasant, 
&c. ; or when v/e would assign to a noun tlie 
opposite gender to that generally understood with it. 



19^ O'e THE SUBSTAKTIVE OR -NOUN. 

we accomplish this by the addition of some attribute 
of sex. 

JEx. : A male friend, a man-cook, a coc/c-pheasant, a Ae-goat, 
a maid-sevyant, sl female child, a vixen fox, a coitf-calf. 

I have aheady remarked that the Enghsh is the only 
language of which I have any knowledge in which the 
gender of substantives, being determined by the sex of the 
object, presents no difficulty to the student. In other lan- 
guages inanimate objects and abstract nouns are ranked as 
of the masculine or feminine gender ; and sometimes even 
substantives serving to name classes of persons receive a 
grammatical gender in opposition to the natural sex. 
Foreign grammarians, in treating this subject, have found 
or fancied many reasons why a certain gender has been 
assigned to particular nouns, reasons which are often con- 
tradictory when diiferent genders have been given to the 
same object; as the sun, which is masculine in Greek, 
Latin, French, &c., but feminine in German; and the 
moon, which is masculine in the latter language, and femi- 
nine in the others. The rules for determining the genders 
of substantives in these languages are commonly based 
upon the terminations of those words ; but they are all 
liable to many exceptions. We are spared all trouble upon 
this point, for every object that is not endued with life is 
neuter ; to which we add the piscatory, reptile, and insect 
races, and even the smaller kinds of animals. In poetry 
and figurative language, inanimate and ideal objects, as the 
passions, &c., are frequently personified by an attribute of 
sex, whereby a force and beauty are given to expression 
that are wholly peculiar to our language. 

CASE. 

The substantive may stand in three distinct rela- 
tions to other words of the sentence : as subject of a 
verb; as complement of a verb or adjective; or as 
attribute to another substantive ; and it is on these 
relations that depends its case. 

1 . When a thing is simply named, or when the 
name stands as subject of the verb, it is in the Nomi- 
native Case, 



OF THE SUBSTANTIVE OR NOUN. 



193 



Oh vice ! thy votaries are ever miserable. 

2. When, as an attribute, it indicates the relation 
of property or possession, it is in the Genitive Case. 

The goose's feather is a mighty instrument. 

3. When it stands as the direct complement of a 
transitive verb, it is in the Accusative Case. This 
case, in English substantives, is like the nominative. 

Vice leads her votaries to ruin. 

We have seen, in Chapter XL, when treating of the 
closer definition of substantives, that they are frequently 
used adjective] y, to determine the sense of another sub- 
stantive, when they cannot bp regarded as in any case at 
all, but form, with the word defined, a compound term. 
We owe the faculty of thus employing substantives entirely 
to the unvarying form of our adjective. In any other 
relation than those just enumerated, the substantive must 
be preceded by a preposition ; and even the relation of pro- 
perty is often expressed by the preposition " of," the sub- 
stantive itself remaining uninflected: as, my uncle's garden; 
or, the garden of my uncle. 

In English, all prepositions, including " o/*," govern 
their substantives in the accusative case. 

DECLENSION OF SUBSTANTIVES. 

The regular repetition of a substantive through all 
the cases in both numbers is called Declining the sub- 
stantive. This is a very simple affair, as the scholar 
will see by the following examples. 



Nominative Case 
Genitive Case 
Accusative Case 

Nominative Case 
Genitive Case 
Accusative Case 



Singular 

A poet 
a poet's 
a poet 

The child 
the child's 
the child 



Plural. 

the poets 
the poets' 
the poets 

the children 
the children' 
the children. 



K 



194 OF TRONOUNS. 

SECTION III. 
OP PHONOUNS. 

The pronoun is employed, as its name imports, in- 
stead of the noun or substantive. These words are 
of essential service in language, shortening discourse, 
preventing misconceptions, and sparing repetitions 
that would be intolerable. English pronouns may be 
divided into the five following classes : — 

1. Personal Pronouns. 

2. Demonstrative Pronouns. 

3. Indefinite Pronouns. 

4. Interrogative Pronouns. 

5. Relative Pronouns. 

English grammarians add to this list possessive and dis- 
tributive pronouns ; but as the words so named are all used 
to determine the sense of a substantive, I prefer classing 
them with adjectives, from which, if necessary, they may be 
distinguished by the name of Pronominal Adjectives. 

PERSONAL PRONOUNS. 

The objects indicated by personal pronouns are 
pointed out as the speaker, the person or thing spoken 
to, or some other person or thing spoken of; the 
speaker being represented by the pronoun of the 
first person, the party addressed by that of the 
SECOND person, and any other object spoken of, whe- 
ther person or thing, by the third person. 

There are two numbers in each person, but the 
same forms serve for all the genders, except in the 
third person singular, where the pronoun has distinct 
forms for the three genders. 

The personal pronouns, like the substantives which 
they represent, may stand in three distinct relations 
of case; but, unlike substantives, they have mostly 
a distinct form for the accusative case. They are 





OF PRONOUNS. 




195 


1, ihou^ he, she, it, we, you, they, 
declined. 


which are thus 




PiRST Person. 






Nominative Case 
Genitive Case 
Accusative Case 


Singular. 
I 

mine 
me 

Second Person. 




Plural. 
• we 

ours 

us 


Nominative Case 
Genitive Case 
Accusative Case 


Singular. 
thou 
thine 
thee 




Plural. 
you 
yours 
you 


The pronoun of the second person has also " 
plural, but this form is now little used. 


ye" in the 




Third Person. 








Singular. 
Masc. Pemin. Neut. 


Plural. 


Nominative Case 
Genitive Case 
Accusative Case 


he she 
his hers 
him her 


it 

its 
it 


they 

theirs 

them 



We must class with personal pronouns the emphatic 
forms myself, thyself, himself, herself, itself, ourselves, your- 
selves, themselves. These words may sometimes be found 
employed singly, but the personal pronoun is generally 
understood with them, and should be expressed, especially 
when the subject of the sentence; unless it be that a certain 
elevation of style is aimed at. 



DEMONSTRATIVE PRONOUNS. 

Demonstrative pronouns serve to point out objects 
within view of the speaker, (in effecting which they 
are commonly aided by some look or gesture), or to 
recal the idea of something that has been previously 
mentioned. They are 

This, that, these, those, same, such. 

These words may all be joined to a substantive to deter- 
mine the range of its signification, and when so employed 
they are Pronominal Adjectives ; but when standing alone, 
whether as subject or complement, they are in effect 
Pronouns, these, those, being the plural forms of this and 

k2 



196 OF PRONOUNS. 

that respectively. The following sentences exhibit them as 
pronouns. 

This is what I expected. That is impossible. Such as I have 
I give willingly. The same as ye measure shall be measured 
unto you. 

The adjectives "former," "latter/' "one," "other," 
" first," " last," and some others, are frequently used 
to recal the images of substantives already mentioned, 
when they really become demonstrative pronouns, 
and are even employed in the Genitive Case to define 
substantives, but one form serves for both numbers. 

That, those, the first, the one, the former, &c., recal the 
object first named ; this, these, the last, the other, the latter, 
point to that last mentioned. When used of objects in 
view of the speaker, this, these, refer to nearer objects, 
that, those, to objects more remote. 

Ex. : The lads are both clever, but this is more diligent than 
that. Swallows and woodcocks are both birds of passage ; 
these arrive in autumn, those in spring. Csesar and Pompey 
contended for pre-eminence ; but the latter fell, and left the 
former master of the world. It was happy for the state 
that Fabius continued in the command with Minucius ; the 
former's phlegm was a check upon the latter' s vivacity. 

The personal pronouns, and more especially those 
of the third person, can all be used demonstratively 
to point out objects within view of the speaker. 

INDEFINITE PRONOUNS. 

Words of this class suggest the idea of persons or 
things without particularising them; and it is from 
the vagueness, or want of precision, that is always 
found in their mode of indication, that they have been 
named Indefinite Pronouns. They are. 

Who, whoever, anybody, everybody, nobody, somebody, one, 
another, none, others, 

used in speaking of persons ; and 

"What, whatever, nothing, anything, everything, something, 
none, 

employed in speaking of things. 

Certain of the indefinite numerals, as, all, few, many. 



or PRO^^OTJNS. 197 

some, &c., are used pronominally, but with these a sub- 
stantive, 2i& folks, people, persons, things, &c., may generally 
be supplied, when, of course, their true character of adjec- 
tives becomes evident. 

The indefinite pronouns mentioned above can stand 
either as subject or complement; and some of them 
can be used as definitives in the genitive case. 
" One " receives a plural number, " none " is of both, 
numbers, and " other, ^^ which in the singular can be 
used adjectively with a substantive, will not admit 
a substantive after it in the plural; unless, indeed, 
when employed in the genitive case to define that 
substantive. 

Ex. : What is everyhodys business is nobody's. Teach, me to 
feel another's woe. One is apt to flatter one's-self. One's 
friends should be preferred to strangers. 

The indefinite pronoun " o/ze," which may be con- 
sidered as the equivalent of the French " o^^," or the 
German " man^^ is not much used in English. When 
employed, it always includes the speaker among those 
spoken of; a peculiarity which does not necessarily 
attach, to the corresponding indefinite pronoun of other 
languages. 

INTERROGATIVE PRONOUNS. 

These pronouns are, of course, used in asking ques- 
tions. They 2iie ivho? which? ivhat? ivhen? lohere? 
whither? whence? how? why? and various combi- 
nations of " where," with prepositions, ivherein ? &c. 

" Who " inquires in a manner wholly indefinite 
after a person, of whom, commonly, the querist knows 
nothing. 

Who told you that ? Whose book is this ? Whom did 
you see ? By whom are these men paid ? To whom hast 
thou uttered these words? And xohose spirit came from 
thee? 

"What" inquires in an equally general manner 
after a thing of w^hich the speaker has no definite 
notion. 



198 OF PllONOUNS. 

What has happened ? Of what do you complain ? Iw ivhat 
has he oiFended ? What shall be done unto the man whom 
the king delighteth to honour ? 

'' Which '* is used in asking after both persons and 
things, when we wish the answer to point out dis- 
tinctly one or more of certain objects inquired after, 
and which are present, or of which the person in- 
quiring has some knowledge. 

Which is your hat ? Which is the bride ? Which wine will 
you take ? 

In the last question, we may suppose the wine to be pre- 
sent, and in no great variety. If it were to be sent for, or 
if numerous sorts were upon the table, the person asking 
the question would probably give a wider range to it by 
employing the interrogative lohat ? 

In inquiring after two objects, some grammarians lay 
down the rule that ivhether ? should be employed instead 
of which. If such be the rule, it certainly is not the 
practice. 

" Whence," " whither," " where," and certain 
combinations of the latter word with prepositions, are 
employed in asking after circumstances of place. 

Whence then cometh wisdom ? and where is the place of 
understanding ? Whither shall we go ? Whereabouts does 
he live ? 

As " whence " expresses, in itself, the relation of direc- 
tion indicated by the preposition "from," and " whither" 
that marked by " to," these prepositions should not be 
added to the pronouns. Thus the following expressions 
are faulty, the prepositions being redundant. 

From whence come wars and fighting ? Whither have they 
sent him to ? 

" When," and " how " in combination with an 
adverb, ask after a circumstance of time. 

When shall you return ? How long shall you be r How soon 
will the train start ? 

" How " also inquires after a circumstance of man- 



OF PRONOUNS. 199 

ner ; and joined to an indefinite numeral, it asks after 
number and quantity. 

How can we reach town to-niglit? Hoio did the accident 
occur ? How many visitors were present ? Hoio much water 
does the vessel draw ? 

" How " is also used in an expostulatory spirit. 

How can you act so irrationally ? Hoxc then comfort ye me in 
vain? 

"Why," ^'^ wherefore/' inquire the reason or motive 
of an action. 

Whij persecutest thou me ? WJierefore slew he him ? Why 
transgressest thou the king's command? 

The question asked by " ivhat " and a preposition, can 
often be asked by a combination of *' where " with the same 
preposition, although the latter form of expression is some- 
what antiquated : in what ? wherem ? for what ? where- 
fore? zfJtYAwhat? wherew^iVA? &c. 

The interrogatives " how ?" " what ?" are often used 
as exclamations expressive of astonishment. 

RELA.TIVE PRONOUNS. 

All the words which have just been cited as serving 
to ask after persons and things, and one or two others, 
are also used to connect accessory sentences, expli- 
cative of the sense in which a substantive, or word 
representing a substantive, is employed. From the 
intimate relation which thus exists between them and 
the preceding term to which they refer, they are 
called Rela.tive Pronouns, the word which they 
represent, or whose idea they recal, being named their 
Antecedent. 

Who, ivhich, and that, are relative pronouns ; who 
is only used in speaking of persons, which in speaking 
of things, and that is employed of persons and things. 
They may stand as subject, complement, and addition, 
and are declined, as shown, p. 124. 

The antecedent of whence, whither, lohere, and cer- 



200 OF ADJECTIVES. 

tain combinations of the latter with prepositions, 
whereat. Sec, is a substantive indicating locality. 

When follows a substantive expressing time. 

Why connects a sentence determining a substantive 
that names the ground or reason of an action. 

How, like ichat, is rather an absolute than a relative 
pronoun, for it seldom has an antecedent expressed. 

As is the relative employed to couple a sentence 
completing or explaining the sense of antecedents, 
expressed or determined by the demonstratives such, 
same. 

The relation expressed by the relative which and a pre- 
position, can frequently be rendered by the relative where 
in combination with the same preposition : by which, 
whereby; upon which, wherewpow; in which, wherem; of 
which, whereq/", &c. 

Remark. — When a negative antecedent is to be 
determined by a negative accessory sentence, a very 
common construction is to connect the accessory sen- 
tence, affirmatively, by the conjunction but, which 
might, in this position, be almost looked upon as a 
relative pronoun. 

Ex. : There is nobody who does not believe that you did it. 
There is nobody but believes that you did it. 



SECTION IV. 
OF ADJSCTZVES. 

The Adjective expresses a quality, or a manner of 
being, of the substantive ; as, when I say a good man, 
a handsome woman, the first tree, the words good, 
handsome, first, are adjectives, because they express 
certain qualities, or manners of being, of the substan- 
tives man, woman, tree ; namely, that of being good, 
that of being handsome, and that of holding a certain 



OF ADJECTIVES. 201 

rank or place among a number of trees. Pronominal 
and Numeral Adjectives will be treated of separately. 
Some adjectives convey a complete idea in them- 
selves, as do those just mentioned; but others, ex- 
pressing a certain relation of the object in which they 
exist to some other object, require a complement that, 
by naming such external object, completes the sense. 
Words of this kind are called Governing Adjectives, 
because they require that their complement be pre- 
ceded by a particular preposition. 

Conscious of guilt. Similar to his father. Capable of mis- 
chief. Worthy of imitation. Averse to study. 

Adjectives have been called predicative or attributive, 
according as they are used in asserting a quality of the 
subject of the sentence, or joined as an addition to a sub- 
stantive. This is a distinction of no consequence, at least 
in English ; for, when a quality is attributed to an object, 
we may conceive a tacit assertion. In German the dis- 
tinction is a vital one ; for the attributive adjective is de- 
clined, but the same word used predicatively is regarded as 
an adverb, and is unchanged. 

The adjective is of the same number, gender, and case, 
as the substantive that it qualifies ; and though, from the 
unchanging form of our adjective, this rule is of little con- 
sequence in English, yet the scholar must bear it in mind, 
for in other languages these words are inflected to mark 
those concords ; and he, who is not fully impressed with 
this sympathy of the adjective, can have but crude notions 
of grammar. 

COMPAKISON OF ADJECTIVES. 

The adjective may qualify a substantive either 
absolutely or relatively ; that is, a quality may be 
attributed positively to a certain object, or its degree 
may be measured by reference to some other object. 
The degrees, called the Degrees of Comparison, 
have, in grammar, been reduced to three, the Posi- 
tive, the Comparative, and the Superlative 
Degree. 

k5 



202 OF ADJECTIVES. 

The Positive Degree is the adjective in its simple 
form. The Comparative Degree expresses superiority 
or inferiority of one or more objects to other objects. 
The Superlative Degree marks the existence of a 
quality in the highest or lowest degree. 

The Comparative Degree may be expressed by 
adding " er " (or ^^ r " only if the word end in " e ") 
to the positive degree ; but if the positive is termi- 
nated by " z/j" preceded by a consonant, the " y " 
must be changed to an '* ^,'■" a final consonant being 
sometimes doubled. 

Ex, : RicL., richer ; noble, nobler ; lively, liveher ; hot, hotfer. 

Adjectives of more than two syllables are not in- 
flected, but comparison is effected by the adverbs of 
degree "^ morep " /e^.s," which are sometimes used 
mth monosyllables and dissyllables. 

Ex. : Obstinate, more obstinate, less obstinate ; noble, more 
noble, less noble ; sad, more sad, less sad. 

The Superlative Degree is expressed by changing 
the termination to " es^," " 5if," or " iest,''^ according 
to the termination of the positive. 

Ex, : Poor, poorest; able, ablest; pretty, 'prettiest; fat, {&ttest. 

Adjectives of more than two syllables, and some- 
times even monosyllables and dissyllables^ form their 
superlative by the adverbs of degree '^ most,^^ " leasts 

Ex. : Most execrable, least -resolute ; most noble, least able ; 
most lame, least strange. 

Some few adjectives are compared irregularly. 



Ex. 



'Positive. 


Comparative, 


Superlative. 


good 


better 


best 


bad 


worse 


worst 


ill 


worse 


worst 


Httle 


less 


least 


old 


older, elder 


oldest, eldest 


near 


nearer 


nearest, next 


much, many 


more 


most 


late 


later 


latest, lajst 



OF ADJECTIVES. 203 

Some adjectives, from their peculiar meaning, do not 
admit of comparison, because the idea which they express 
is absolute, and incapable of degree : such are, perfect, 
dead, alive, &c. It is clear that perfection cannot either 
exceed or fall short of itself. So a being cannot be more 
than dead, or, if dead at all, can he fall short of it. We 
however sometimes meet with such expressions as, more 
perfect, blinder, &c., which offend our notions of correctness. 
The student should guard against faulty locutions of this 
kind. 

POSSESSIVE ADJECTIVES. 

These words, which determine a substantive by an 
attribute of property, are variously named by gram- 
marians, Possessive Pronouns, Pronominal Adjectives, 
&c. As the object defined must belong either to the 
speaker, the party spoken to, or some other person or 
thing spoken of, the possessive adjectives are formed 
frova. the genitive case of the corresponding personal 
pronouns. 







Singular 


Plural. 


First Person 




my 


our 


Second Person 




thy 


your 


Third Person 


Masc. 


his 


} their 




Femin. 


her 




Neut. 


its 


) 



These words are always joined to a substantive, with 
which they agree in Gender, Number, and Case. It is only 
incidentally that the possessive adjective of the third person 
shows the gender of the possessor ; the word itself is of 
the gender of its substantive, as the pupil will find on com- 
mencing the study of the La!in or French. 

DEMONSTRATIVE ADJECTIVES. 

The Demonstrative Pronouns, mentioned at p. 195, 
may all be used, adjectively, to determine a substan- 
tive : they are this, that, these, those, same, such : to 
these may be added yon, which cannot be used with- 
out its substantive, and which is therefore always a 
Demonstrative Adjective, and the, also joined to a sub- 
stantive, and commonly called the Definite Article, 



204 OF ADJECTIVES. 

** Yon trembling coward who forsook Hs master." The 
Severn. 

The adverb yo?ider is sometimes used as an adjective 
instead of yon. 

Near yonder copse, where once a garden smiled. 
OF NUMERALS. 

The number and quantity of objects are commonly 
indicated by words called Numerals, which are ranked 
by grammarians as adjectives. They are of two kinds, 
and, with the exceptions noted below, they do not 
admit of comparison. 

1 . Definite Numerals, which express a precisely deter- 
mined number : 

One, two, three . . ten, eleven . . twenty, fifty, hun- 
dred, thousand, million, &c. 

2. Indefinite Numerals, which express number or 
quantity with more or less precision : such are 

A, an, all, any, both, divers, each, either, enough, every, few, 
little, many, much, neither, no, several, some, sundry, &c. 

Of these few, little, many, much, are compared. 
Definite Numerals are Cardinal, or Ordinal, Numbers. 
The Cardinal Numbers mark the number of objects. 
One, two, three . . ten, fifteen, twenty, fifty, &c. 

Ordinal Numbers mark the position or rank of the object, 
and cannot be correctly joined to a substantive in the 
plural number : they are, 

Fh'st, second, third, tenth, fifleenth, twentieth, fiftieth, &c. 

With the exception of first, second, these ordinal forms 
are all used as substantives to express the fractional parts 
of unity, when they can take the sign of plurality. Instead 
of " second," we say half, or moiety, and for " fourth," we 
say, indifferently, fourth or quarter. 

Two-thirds ; a fifth ; nine-tenths ; seven-fiftieths, &c. 

Other adjectives determine a substantive by indi- 
cating how many times the simple object is contained 
or repeated in itself. 



OF THE ARTICLES. 205 

Single, double, triple, quadruple, quintuple, centuple ; two- 
fold, threefold, fourfold, tenfold, hundi'edfold, manifold, &c. 

Each, every, either, neither, are called by some of 
our grammarians Distributive Pronouns, because 
they denote, as taken singly, the objects that make up 
a number. 

The second Section of Chapter II., p. 43, treated 
of Definitives used substantively, the substantive 
being understood. This mode of expression, how- 
ever, is not so frequent in English as in other lan- 
guages, owing to our adjective being indeclinable. 
Many of our words are both substantives and adjec- 
tives, and many others that are unquestionably adjec- 
tives considered generally, have in certain phrases 
become recognized as substantives, and take the plural 
number. The following words are used both as sub- 
stantives and adjectives. 

Cold, salt, liquid, evil, christian, calm, equivalent, individual, 
solitary, fluid, solid, black, native, round. Pagan, German, 
Russian, Indian, &c. 

If at any time the pupil be desirous to ascertain the true 
character of such a word in a sentence, he may commonly 
do so by trying whether it takes an Adjective or an Adverb 
as a definitive : in the first case it is a substantive ; in the 
latter it merely represents one. Thus to " the real Christian'* 
we could not add such a word as " person ;" but " the really 
christian (person) " would not off'end the ear. So there is 
a distinction between "he is a true German," and "he is 
truly German." 



SECTION V. 

OF THB ARTICLES. 

This section is introduced, to remind the pupil that 
certain words are thus named by our grammarians ; 
wrongly, however, as I think, but I am anxious to 
caution him against pertinacity in a mere matter of 
names. 



206 OF VERBS. 

A, which indicates unity, is called the Indefinite Ar- 
ticle : it changes to an where facility of pronunciation 
requires it ; that is before any other vowel than a long "w," 
or " " in the word one. If the word begins with a 
silent '' h," the article to be employed is determined by the 
following vowel. 

Ex. : A bouse. An apple. A one-horse chaise. An honour- 
able man. A bumorous fellow. 

The is called the Definite Article, ''because," says 
Murray, " it ascertains what particular thing or things are 
meant ; as, give me the book ; bring me the apples." In 
these instances it is clearly a demonstrative, somewhat less 
forcible than that, those. In its true character as an article, 
were it worth while to make a distinct Part of Speech of 
it, it is wholly indefinite : " The horse is a useful animal ;" 
" the Greeks were an intelligent people." Here there is 
neither a particular horse, nor a particular class of Greeks 
pointed out. 



SECTION YI. 
OF VERBS. 

The verb, the word that gives life to the sentence, 
expresses, at the same time, an idea of action, and a 
judgment of the speaker. 

The verb to be, which, simply expresses the attri- 
bute of existence, is called the Substantive Verb. All 
other verbs are held to contain within themselves the 
attribute of being, combined with the idea of the 
action which they assert, and are called Adjective 
Verbs. 

Adjective Verbs are divided into two classes, from 
a striking difference in their nature : the one class 
exercising an influence over, or requiring to be fol- 
lowed by a complement ; the other class not admitting 
such a complement. These two classes are named, 



OF VERBS. 207 

1. Active, or Tiia.nsitive Yerbs. 

2. Neuter, or Intransitive Verbs. 

In Transitive Verbs we must again distinguish 
those which exercise a direct government over their 
complement; as, ^' the boy catches the hall ;^^ from 
those which effect their government indirectly through 
the medium of a preposition; as, "the boy catches at 
the ball." 

We often speak of action without naming any 
object from which it proceeds, the acting thing being 
vaguely and indefinitely indicated by the pronoun 
"it;" and this is especially the case with various 
atmospheric phenomena ; as, it rains ; it snows ; it 
seems, &c. Verbs, which thus express action with- 
out a definitely conceived subject, are called Imper- 
sonal, or perhaps more properly unipersonal, verbs. 
The latter is the term used by the French gram- 
marians, such verbs admitting only the pronoun of 
the third personal singular as their subject or nomi- 
native. 

Thus we have, 

1 . Active Verbs directly Transitive : carry, see, 
hear, strike. 

2. Active Verbs indirectly Transitive : speak, think, 
hope. 

3. Neuter Verbs : blossom, sleep, live, die, walk. 

4. Impersonal Verbs : thaw, freeze, hail. 

Active verbs of the first class form new verbs of the 
second class by the help of prepositions : to carry on ; 
to see after, &c. ; or they may be used like neuter 
verbs without a complement : " the boy reads and 
writes." Verbs commonly neuter are, in colloquial 
expressions, sometimes used transitively, as, " I have 
danced attendance on him for a week ;" " the groom 
walked the horse very gently." 

The grammatical accidents of the verb are Person, 
Number, Mood, Tense, and Voice, 



208 or VERBS. 

PERSON AND NUMBER. 

The subject of a sentence must be either the 
speaker himself, the person addressed, or some other 
person or thing spoken of; and as the action expressed 
by the verb is asserted to proceed from the subject^ 
every subject is considered grammatically as 2i person 
or acting thing ; the speaking being the First person, 
the party addressed the Second person, and any other 
object spoken of the Third person. 

In most languages the verb changes its form with the 
person of the subject, so that this latter peculiarity is shown 
by the verb itself. This indication, by the verb itself, of 
the person of the subject, called the Concord of Person, is 
in English confined to the singular number, and even there 
is not perfect. 

The subject of the verb may be in the singular or the 
plural number ; and the verb of other languages, at the 
same time that it marks the person, shows also by a distinct 
inflection the number of the subject ; and this is called the 
Concord of Number. The method in which one of the 
Latin verbs indicates these concords in the present tense 
has been shown at p. 23. 

As the inflections of the English verb, that show the 
person of the subject, are confined to the singular number, 
they necessarily, where found, indicate its number also. In 
the singular of the present tense of the indicative mood, 
both concords are exhibited by terminational changes; but, 
in the other tenses, the first and third person singular are 
alike ; and all the persons of the plural are always like the 
first person of the singular, with the sole exception of the 
verb to be. 





Singular. 


Plural. 


First Person 


I think 


we think 


Second Person 


thoii think-est 


you think 


Third Person 


he (she, it) think- s 


they think 



MOOD. 

The English verb has no distinct forms serving to 
show, by inflection, the relations of Manner or Mood; 
these relations being expressed in our language either 



OF VERBS. 209 

by auxiliary verbs, or indicated by conjunctions, or 
by inversion of the usual order of the verb and its 
subject. As, however, such distinct forms do exist in 
other languages, where they present considerable 
difficulty to the English student, unaccustomed to 
anything analogous in his own language, and there- 
fore habitually inobservant of them in others, I will 
endeavour to point out to him the principal distinc- 
tions that exist in the mood of the verb ; that is, in the 
manner of expressing action. 

As has been explained, Section XI., Chapter I., we 
may assert something of a subject as positive, or 
actual; we may assert it as possible, probable, or 
obligatory ; we may speak of action hjpothetically , 
or express, Avithout directly asserting it; we may 
command or entreat that a certain action be performed; 
or we may name action independently of an actor, we 
may use the verb without a subject, and therefore 
without any relation of person or number. Our 
grammarians, following the construction of the Latin 
verb, commonly reckon Jive moods : the Indicative; 
the Imperative ; the Potential ; the Subjunctive ; 
and the Infinitive Mood ; and this division seems 
to answer pretty justly to the mechanism of assertion 
in the English language. 

The Indicative Mood asserts a thing positively ; or, if 
interrogative, it inquires directly after a fact. 

The wind blows. The thunder roared. The leaves will fall. 
We shall see you to-morrow. The dog has bitten the child. 
Has the packet arrived ? Is dinner ready ? 

The Imperative Mood intimates the desire of the speaker 
that the party addressed, or some other object spoken of, 
should do a certain action, or be in a certain state. In 
English the use of this mood is chiefly limited to the 
second person, when the subject of the verb is seldom ex- 
pressed. It is occasionally met with in other persons, 
except the first person singtdar, for a person does not com- 
mand himself ; were he to address himself, he would apos- 
trophize himself in the second person. This mood has but 



210 OF VERBS. 

one tense, for though the execution of the desired act be 
future, the expression of the desire is necessarily present. 

Ex. : Forgive (thou) us our trespasses. Hand (thou) me an 
apple. Come (you) here. Go away. Sing we in harmony 
Apollo's praise. Thy will be done. Blessed be the name 
of the Lord. 

The Potential Mood asserts, not that a thing positively 
is, but that it might or ought to be ; or, it inquires after 
the possibility or necessity of an action. 

Ex.: The patient may recover. Our presence would spoil 
your plan. All men must die. I can see you. May we 
go to town ? Can she speak French ? 

Remark. — The indicative and the potential mood each 
assert or inquire after a fact in a direct manner ; but while 
with the former the action expressed by the verb is regarded 
as positive, with the latter its possibility and not its actuality 
is asserted. There is, for instance, a wide distinction 
between the assertions " the patient will recover " (indica- 
tive), and ''the patient may recover" (potential). This 
distinction is perhaps of no great moment in English 
grammar ; but as possibility, probability, duty, necessity, 
&c., are differently expressed in different languages, it is 
necessary to have some tolerably clear notions of how they 
are shown by our own verb, in order to understand accu- 
rately the corresponding expressions of other tongues. 

The Subjunctive Mood is used only in accessory or de- 
pendent sentences, where action is spoken of indefinitely, 
or put hypothetically, rather than asserted. 

Ex. : If he thought of his mother, he would not act so. Should 
the ice break you must be drowned. He has taken an 
umbrella lest it should rain. Could I speak French I would 
visit the continent. 

The Infinitive Mood comprises the various forms of the 
verb in which it stands without a subject, and in which, 
therefore, it does not predicate. 

Ex. : To love. To have loved. To be loved. To have been 
loved. Loving. Having loved. Being loved, &c. 

OF TENSE. 

The verb asserts an action to be past, present, or 
yet to come, and the changes by which the verb shows 



OF VERBS. 211 

these relations of time are called its Tenses. In 
English these relations are indicated but in a very 
limited degree by inflections of the verb itself, being 
expressed for the most part by auxiliary verbs. 
There are six Tenses. 

1 . The Present Tense ; which is used in speaking of 
an action that is passing at the time of speaking : this 
tense is also employed in speaking of habitual and still con- 
tinuing action. 

JEz.: God rules the world. The moon shines by night. A 
linnet smps. The stars twinkle. 

A peculiar beauty of our language, by which we express 
incomplete or progressing action, has been before noticed. 
This consists in employing the substantive verb to be with 
the present participle active of the adjective verb, a form 
commonly used when we would indicate action as actually 
passing at the moment of speaking ; the ordinary form of 
the present tense serving, in many instances, to express 
habitual action only. 

Ex. : I am writing. The dogs are barking. The boat is sink- 
ing. Somebody is talking. 

2. The Perfect Tense Indefinite, used in speaking of 
an action as past, but without any reference to the time of 
speaking. This, our Historical Tense, or that commonly 
used in narration, is formed by inflection of the verb itself. 

Ex. : I saw the queen yesterday. The boatmen immediately 
made for the wreck. The stranger ordered a chaise. Alex- 
ander conquered the Persians. 

This tense is oddly named by our grammarians the Im- 
perfect Tense : it is frequently used to express long conti- 
nued or habitual, but always terminated, action. When we 
would express imperfect action in this tense, we employ, as 
in others, the verb to he, and the participle. 

Ex. : I was waiting for you when your letter arrived. "While 
the inhabitants loere disputing about methods of defence, the 
enemy entered the town. 

3. The Perfect Tense Definite, which speaks of an 
action as completely past, but which always has a reference 



212 OF VERBS. 

to the time of speaking. It is formed by help of the 
auxiliary verb of time to have, 

Ex. : You have dined. The rain has ceased. My father has 
arrived. I have heen icriting. The soldiers have been 
drinking. 

4. The Pluperfect Tense, expressing- an action, not 
past merely with reference to the present, but anterior 
to some other past event; which latter, however, is not 
always expressed. This tense is also formed by the help of 
the verb to have. 

Ex, : The party had proceeded some miles before the trimk was 
missed. The captain had died ^vist before the vessel arrived 
at the Cape. The fire had heen smouldering for some ho\irs. 

5. The Future Tense, used in predicating simply of an 
action which, at the time of speaking, is yet to come. 
This is effected by the auxiliaries shall, will. 

Ex. : The bee will sting you. The floods will carry away the 
bridge. I shall he writing all night. 

6. The Future Perfect Tense, employed in speaking 
of an action, that, though future, will yet be anterior to 
some other future event. It is expressed by the auxiliaries 
shall, will, have. 

Ex. : The workmen toill have used a million bricks when the 
arch is completed. When I have finished this line I shall 
have translated two pages. If the plan does not succeed, he 
will have heen toiling all these years for nothing. 

OF VOICE. 

There are two voices in the English verb, the 
Active Voice and the Passive Voice : the first is 
employed when the subject is represented as perform- 
ing the action asserted by the verb, as I love ; the 
second is used when we speak of the subject as suf- 
fering or receiving the action asserted by the verb ; I 
am loved. 

CONJUGATION OF THE VERB. 

To conjugate a verb is to rehearse it regularly- 
through all its changes of Perso?i, Number, Mood, 
and Tense. 



OF VERBS. 



21; 



In other languages, where the verb has distinct 
terminations to mark the concords of person and 
number throughout, with the tenses and moods also 
marked by inflections, this is a very complicated ope- 
ration, but with our verb, which undergoes but few 
such changes, it is a tolerably simple affair. I will 
first show the conjugation of the verbs to have, and 
to be, which, apart from their own peculiar meaning 
as independent verbs, play very important parts in 
the conjugation of other verbs ; and then take succes- 
sively the other auxiHary verbs of time and mood, after 
which will be exhibited a verb regularly conjugated 
through both voices. 

The verb to have is a transitive verb predicating 
possession, and governing its complement directly. 
It is conjugated as follows : — 





Indicative Mood. 






Present Teiise. 






Singular. 


Plural. 


Fh'st Person 
Second Person 
Third Person 


I have 

thou hast 

he (she, it) has 

Perfect Tense Indefinite. 


we have 
you have 
they have 


First Person 
Second Person 
Third Person 


I had 

thou hadst 

he (she, it) had 

Perfect Tense Definite. 


we had 
you had 
they had 


First Person 
Second Person 
Third Person 


I have had 

thou hast had 

he (she, it) has had 

Pluperfect Tense. 


we have had 
you have had 
they have had 


First Person 
Second Person 
Third Person 


I had had 

thou hadst had 

he (she, it) had had 

Future Tense. 


we had had 
you had had 
they had had 


First Person 
Second Person 
Third Person 


I shall have 

thou wilt have 

he (she, it) will have 


we shall have 
you will have 
they will have 



214 OF VERBS. 

Future Perfect Tense. 
Singular. Plural. 

First Person I shall have had we shall have had 

Second Person thou wilt have had you wUl have had 

Third Person he (she, it) will have had they will have had 

Imperative Mood. 
Second Person have (thou) have (you) 

Infinitive Mood. 
Present. Perfect, 

To have to have had 

Participles. 
Present having 

Perfect having had 

Future about to have 

Future Perfect having been about to have. 

The simple participle " had " signifies " possessed," and 
belongs to the passive voice of the verb. That form of our 
verb corresponding to the potential mood, and so named by 
our grammarians, is eifected by auxiliary verbs, and will 
not, therefore, be exhibited till these words have been 
explained. 

The verb to be, called by grammarians the Sub- 
stantive Verb, predicates by itself simple existence. 
It differs from all our other verbs in possessing pecu- 
liar forms for two tenses of the subjunctive mood, 
and it will therefore help, in some measure, to eluci- 
date that difficult part of grammar. It is by the aid 
of the substantive verb that the passive voice of the 
English verb is expressed, as indeed is the case in 
most modern languages. In the following conjuga- 
tion the feminine and neuter pronouns of the third 
person singular will not be inserted. 

The verb to be is thus conjugated. 





Indicative Mood. 






Present Tense. 




1 

2 
3 


Singular 
I am 
thou art 

he is 


Plural. 
we are 
you are 
they are 



OF VERBS. 215 

Perfect Tense Indefinite. 

Singular, Plural, 

1 I was we were 

2 thou wast you were 

3 he was they were 

Perfect Tense Definite. 

1 I have been we have been 

2 thou hast been you have been 

3 he has been they have been 

Pluperfect Tense, 

1 I had been we had been 

2 thou hadst been you had been 

3 he had been they had been 

Future Tense. 

1 I shall be we shall be 

2 thou wilt be you will be 

3 he will be they will be 

Future Perfect Tense. 

1 I shall have been we shall have been 

2 thou wilt have been you will have been 

3 he vnll have been they will have been 

Imperative JMood. 

1 (Not used) be we 

2 Be thou be you 

3 be he be they 

Subjunctive Mood. 
Present Tense (rarely used). 



1 

2 
3 


Be I be we 
be thou be you 
be he be they 


I 
2 
3 


Imperfect Te^xse, 
Were I were we 
wert thou were you 
were he were they 




Future Tense. 


1 
2 
3 


Should I be should we be 
should thou be should you be 
should he be should they be 


1 

2 
3 


Pluperfect Tense, 
Had I been had we been 
had thou been had you been 
had he been had they been 




Infinitive Mood. 
Present. Perfect, 
To be to have been 



216 OF VERBS. 



Participles. 



Present being 

Perfect having been 

Future about to be 

Future Perfect having been about to be. 



Only those tenses of the Subjunctive Mood are here 
given that can be expressed by the verb itself, or by invert- 
ing the order of the words, and placing the verb before its 
nominative. In the other tenses, the subjunctive or de- 
pendent sentence is connected with the principal one by 
some conjunction, as may likewise be the case with the 
tenses given : z/" I be ; though thou wert, &c. 

The Present and the Imperfect tenses subjunctive of the 
verb to he, both express a state conceived as existing at the 
time of speaking, and both may therefore be regarded as 
'present tenses. 

A few examples of this verb, used indicatively and sub- 
junctively, may help to elucidate the subject of mood. The 
words '' was he in fault " seem to inquire as to the conduct 
of an individual ; but if I employ the subjunctive form of 
the verb, and say, "■ ivere he in fault" the hearer feels at 
once that I am not asking a question, but am assuming a 
fact as the ground of a coming assertion. The mood to be 
employed depends upon the impression which the speaker 
would convey. In adverting to a matter of M'hose actuaUty 
he has no doubt, he manifests this tone of mind by using 
the indicative mood. A person presents a bill, which the 
debtor knows, or feels certain, is correct, and therefore, 
although he uses an assumptive form of expression, he 
shows this impression of its accuracy by speaking in the 
indicative mood. " If the bill is correct, I will pay it." 
Let it be, however, that a doubt of its accuracy exists, he 
manifests this sentiment by employing the subjunctive 
mood : " if the bill he correct, I will pay it." Again ; 
" though he was in fault, yet the punishment was too 
severe :" here the speaker, admitting the culpability of the 
party punished, uses the indicative mood ; but if he ques- 
tion or doubt the fact of the punishment having been 
merited, he shows this impression of his mind by the mood 
of the verb ; " though he were in fault, still the punishment 
was too severe." This distinction of mood is too little 



OF VERBS. 217 

regarded by us ; but the ingenious scholar who aims at 
accuracy of expression, should pay especial attention to the 
verb of such assumptive sentences. 

The verb to be, besides serving to form the passive 
voice, is also extensively used, where the attribute 
asserted of the subject is expressed by a substantive or 
an adjective, to couple the two ideas thus correlative. 

Ex. : Pleasant words are as a honeycomb. Plato was a Greek. 
Were Charles a soldier, his courage would win promotion. 
Better is a dinner of herbs where love is, than a stalled ox 
and hatred therewith. 

If the quality expressed by the adjective be an 
active one, it is almost indifferent whether the asser- 
tion be effected by the substantive or the adjective 
verb. 

Ex. : Idleness is wearisome ( = wearies) . His intemperance 
was destructive to ( = destroyed) his health. Your patron- 
age may be conducive (= may conduce) to my success. 



OF THE AUXILIARY VERBS. 

Most of the relations of tense and mood, that are in 
other languages expressed by inflections of the verb, 
are, in English, shown by the help of distinct words, 
which, on account of this their use, are called Auxi- 
liary Verbs. They are few in number, and, though 
capable of expressing many different relations, they 
are simple in construction. 

The auxiliary verbs are have, do, shall, will, may, 
can, must, ought, and let. Of these do, have, loill, and 
let are also adjective verbs, asserting peculiar actions, 
and having a complete conjugation, their employment 
as auxiliaries being limited to a few tenses, where they 
lose the special sense or meaning that attaches to them 
as principal verbs. 

Auxiliary verbs may be regarded in two characters ; 
as expressing relations of Time, and as expressing 
relations of Mood. 



1. The auxiliaries have, do, shall, and will, which help in 

L 



218 OF VEKBS. 

forming some of the tenses, express relations of time, but 
the last two also express relations of mood. 

2. The auxiliaries can, may, shall, will, must, ought, and 
let, some of which by integral changes show incidentally 
certain relations of time, as verbs of mood serve to qualify 
in various ways the force of the assertion. 

" Have," which as a principal verb asserts posses- 
sion, and of which the conjugation has been given, as 
an auxiliary verb of time, helps to form the perfect 
tense definite, the pluperfect tense, the perfect infi- 
nitive, and the perfect and the future perfect parti- 
ciples of the active voice; and as it helps to form those 
parts of the verb to be, it necessarily enters into the 
composition of the same portions of the passive voice, 
expressed by that verb. 

'^ Do," which as principal verb asserts in a general 
way the performance of an action, has a complete 
conjugation. Its use as an auxiliary is limited to the 
present and perfect tense indefinite of the indicative 
mood, where it is thus conjugated: 

Present Tense. 
Singular. Plural. 

1 I do we do 

2 thou dost you do 

3 he does they do 

Perfect Tense Indefinite, 

1 I did we did 

2 thou didst you did 

3 he did they did. 

The auxiliary " do " is the strangest verb with which 
I am acquainted. It is perfectly idiomatic, defying compre- 
hension by a foreigner, unless perhaps by a German. It 
serves but to express certain relations of time and concord 
which the verb can express of itself, and is therefore quite 
useless. Do is rarely introduced into affirmative sentences, 
except it be for the sake of strengthening an assertion the 
truth of which seems questioned. It would be well if this 
senseless auxiliary were less frequently used in negative 
sentences, for the thought may often be much more neatly 



OF VERBS. 219 

rendered without it. For instance, such a phrase as " I 
know not how it is that," &c., has a more classical sound 
than " I don't know how it is that," &c. In interrogations 
its presence is so constant as almost to preclude criticism ; 
yet even here we sometimes find that its absence gives an 
elegant turn to the question. " Think you that," &c., has 
a more refined air than the homely " do you think that ;" 
but such a manner of speaking has a somewhat too rhe- 
torical effect for the sober taste of Englishmen. 

Another singular use of this verb is its constant employ- 
ment (with ellipsis of its principal verb) in reply, where it 
is used affirmatively, negatively, and even interrogatively. 
In answer to a question it is the equivalent of, or perhaps 
a little more emphatic than, the responsive adverbs " yes," 
"no." 

JEa;. ; Do you wish to dine early to-day ? Ido. Did you pre- 
sent my respects to the colonel ? I did. My brother expects 
a letter from his friend at Rome. Does he ? Your father 
should not have spoken unkindly. He did not. 

It is used imperatively in reply to an assertion expressed 
in the future tense. 

Ex. : 1 will go and gather some strawberries. Do, I will 
throw little Dido into the canal. Don't. 

It is also used to add force to a request. 
Ex. : Do forgive me this time. Do be quiet. 

"Shall" and "will," as auxiliaries of time, help to 
form the two future tenses of the indicative mood, 
■shall being employed in the first person, and will 
in the second and third persons. When thus em- 
ployed they simply indicate the futurity of the asserted 
action, and are therefore merely the equivalents of 
those inflections of the verb of another language that 
are peculiar to the future tenses. The consideration 
of these two words will shortly be resumed as verbs 
of mood, when their peculiarities will be explained 
more in detail. 

The auxiliary verbs of mood next demand our 
notice. They modify or strengthen, in various ways, 
the force of the assertion, none of them predicating 

l2 



220 OF VERBS. 

action, but only tlie possibility or the necessity of an 
action; and they may therefore be all classed as verbs 
of the potential mood. 
'^ Can " is thus declined : 

Present Tense. 

Singular. Plural. 

1 I can we can 

2 thou canst you can 

3 he can they can. 

Conditional {Imperfect) Tense. 

1 I could we could 

2 thou couldst you could 

3 he could they could. 

Can, could, indicate a possibility dependent on the proper 
ability of the subject itself: can asserts this absolutely; but 
could is used when the possibility is contingent upon some 
other event expressed by an accessory sentence. 

Ux. : Lightning can split the largest oak or the hardest marble. 
Can you swim ? I cannot. I could cite twenty examples if 
I had the time. 

Can is sometimes used to express the speaker's acqui- 
escence in the action mentioned. 

Ex. : James can go to the races ; he can take the bay horse. 

" May " is conjugated as follows : 

Present Tense. 
Singular. Plural. 

1 I may we may 

2 thou mayest you may 

3 he may they may 

Conditional (Imperfect) Tense. 

1 I might we might 

2 thou mightest you might 

3 he might they might 

May frequently intimates the concurrence of the speaker, 
or of some person other than the subject^ in the action 
named. 



or VERBS. 221 

Ex. : You may come in. The children maj/ each take an apple. 
The patient may take no mne. We may not go into the 
inner park. 

This verb also expresses a natural possibility, sometimes 
dependent on the option of the subject. 

Ex. : It may rain. The master may refuse a holiday. The 
gun miyht go off. You are very positive, but you may never- 
theless be in error. 

May is frequently used to express only an inferred pos- 
sibility, especially when we are seeking an excuse for some 
fact. 

Ex. : The servant may have forgotten, or she may have been 
detained. 

"Must," which is wholly without inflection, ex- 
presses stringent necessity, leaving the agent without 
option. 

Ex. : All men must die. We must always speak the truth. 

Must is also used to express an inference that is deemed 
unquestionable. 

Ex. : He mv^t be a fool to act in that manner. The child must 
be ill, since it will not eat. 

" Ought " has but one tense. 





Present Tense. 




1 

2 
3 


Singular. 
I ought 
thou oughtest 
he ought 


Plural. 
we ought 
you ought 
they ought 



Ought expresses a moral obligation : unlike the other 
auxiliaries, it requires that the verb which it qualifies be 
preceded by the preposition " to." 

Ex. : "We ought to forgive our enemies. You ought to be 
ashamed of yourself. 

" Shall," as a verb of mood, expresses obligation. 
It is thus conjugated: 

Present Tense. 
Singular. Plural. 

1 I shall we shall 

2 thou shalt you shall 

3 he shall they shall 



222 OF VERB3. 

Conditional (Imperfect) Tense. 
Singular. Plural. 

1 I sliould we sliould 

2 thou shouldst you should 

3 lie sliould they should 

Shall conveys the notion that the subject is under the 

necessity of performing the action predicated, generally 

in accordance with, if not in obedience to, the will of the 

speaker. The verb consequently does not convey this idea 

of obligation, when employed in the first person ; for if 

the action is voluntary, there is of course no compulsion. 

Ex. : You shall have no holiday to-day. He shall remember 

this as long as he lives. I will be obeyed ; they shall do 

as commanded. "Were I his father, he should go to school. 

Shall, in the first person, foretels indicatively a future 
event ; but when used interrogatively in this person, it 
may either inquire the pleasure of the party addressed, 
" shall 1 i^tch. you another book;" or it may simply ask 
whether a certain event will occur ; " shall I be in time for 
the overture V In the first instance, the actuality of the 
fact is contigent upon the pleasure of the party addressed, 
and the auxiliary might, therefore, be regarded as potential ; 
in the second question, the action is inquired after without 
reference to the will or pleasure of any one, and the aux- 
iliary is therefore indicative. This distinction is, however, 
of no consequence ; indeed in many instances it would 
be impossible to determine the impelUng motive of the 
question. Shall, used assertively in the second person, is 
potential, implying generally compulsion, or at any rate 
asserting action as about to happen independently of the 
subject's will. Employed interrogatively it is simply Indi- 
cative, asking after the fact, and not the pleasure of the 
party addressed. " Shall you go to the theatre this 
evening V 

Shall, employed with assertion in the third person, com- 
monly marks a greater or less degree of obhgation upon 
the subject to perform the action spoken of. When used 
interrogatively in the third person, it inquires the pleasure 
of the party addressed as to the action proposed ; " Shall 
James order the carriage V or it challenges contradiction 
to the fact inquired after, and is about the equivalent of 
can : " Shall mortal man be more just than God ? Shall a 
man be more pure than his Maker }" 



OF VERBS. 223 

Shall, should, intimate also a strong- moral obligation. 
Ex. : Thou shalt not steal. We should love even our enemies. 

It is exceedingly diflScult, sometimes indeed impossible, 
to convey in translation the notion of menaced constraint, 
the threatened exercise of power, expressed so emphatically 
by our verb shall. 

" Will," which in one sense, that of predicating 
the deliberate and formal exercise of the will, is a 
verb with a full conjugation, as an auxiliary verb is 
thus conjugated : — 

Present Tense. 

Singular. Plural. 

1 I wUl we will 

2 thou wilt you will 

3 he will they will 

Conditional (Imperfect) Tense, 

1 I would we would 

2 thou wouldst you would 

3 he would they would 

Will, as an auxiliary, expresses strongly, in the first 
person, the idea that the subject is acting upon the impulse 
of his own will. The same idea attaches, perhaps, very 
frequently, to this verb in the second and third persons ; 
but commonly in those persons the verb is simply indicative 
of futurity without reference to volition. Would conveys, 
rather forcibly, the notion of voluntary action. 

Ex. : You will, in after life, regret your present idleness. The 
harvest will be abundant. James would not come with me. 

Will, would, are used colloquially to express habitual 
action. 

Ex. : He will hold you by the button for an hour at a time. 
The unhappy youth would pass whole days in soHtude. 

In these instances the verb is not potential, but expresses, 
indicatively, those relations of person, number, and tense, 
that are commonly shown by the verb itself, adding an idea 
of frequency or habit. 



224 OF VERBS. 

Ex. : He will hold you = he often holds you, &c. The luihappy 
youth would pass = passed, &c. 

The Future Perfect Tense, formed by will, is frequently 
used in assuming a probable event for a fact. 

Ex. : Your brother will have visited Paris in his route. 

Irishmen generally, and many Scotchmen, use the aux- 
iliaries shall and will somewhat irregularly, substituting one 
for the other^ and thus employing them to foretel voluntary 
action, where an Englishmen uses them potentially to ex- 
press obligation, and vice versd. For instance, they use 
ivill in the first person simply to foretel, where we always 
employ shall; and they also use it interrogatively in the 
same person, which an Englishmen never does ; " will I ?** 
" will we ?" It would be useless to enlarge upon this pecu- 
liarity, a perfect Shibboleth ; an English child, even in its 
earliest years, seems to catch instinctively the proper method 
of using these words. 

" Let/' as a principal verb, means to demise or 
lend for hire, or it is used in the sense of permit, 
cause, suffer, &c. In these last meanings it requires 
as complement an accessory accusative sentence, or 
rather such a sentence contracted by omitting the 
conjunction, and changing the subject from the 
nominative to the accusative case, and the verb from 
a personal to the infinitive mood. 

Let, as an auxiliary, is not inflected. It serves to form 
the imperative mood, of the first person plural, and both 
numbers of the third person. I have already remarked, 
that this mood is not employed in the first person singular ; 
for if a speaker address himself, he must do so in the 
second person. 

Ex. : Let us pray. Let him, who standeth, take heed lest he 
fall. Let the earth bless the Lord. Let what will happen, 
I shall go to-morrow. 

Let, except in the second person, always requires that its 
subject be in the accusative case, with a verb in the infini- 
tive mood. Hence it has been contended, that this verb, 
employed imperatively, is never an auxiliary verb of mood. 



OF VERBS. 225 

but always a principal verb, in the sense of permit, allow, 
&c., in the second person. This might be so if the pro- 
noun of the second person could always be supplied, as, " let 
(thou) him go ; " but such is ob^'iously not the case in 
very many examples that might be cited ; in those, for 
instance, given above, where the command or request is 
addressed directly to subjects in the first or third person ; 
and where, consequently, a pronoun in the second person 
cannot be introduced. We could not say, "' let thou us 
pray; " ** let thou him who standeth," &c. 

This verb may be repeated in the same sentence, as, " let 
us let go the anchor." Instead of saying, " let us allow him 
to discharge the gun," a child, or an illiterate person, 
might say, "let us let him let off the gunf and with a litttle 
ingenuity perfectly intelligible sentences might be formed 
in which this verb was still oftener repeated. 

All the auxiliary verbs express the concords of 
number and person, the principal verb remaining 
nninflected. Those of the potential mood also ex- 
press, incidentally, relations of time, but without 
much, regard to the relations of time expressed by the 
corresponding tenses of the indicative mood. 

Can and may express present as well as future possibihty; 
could and might express past and future possibility. Shall 
and will express present obligation or determination to 
future action. Would predicates of eitlier past or future 
action ; should of present or future action. Must and 
ought express present necessity ; but all of them, in con- 
nection with have, may express relations of past time. Let, 
like all other imperatives, commands in present time, 
although the execution is necessarily future. 

CONJUGATION OF ADJECTIVE VERBS. 

The terminational changes of our verbs are very 
few, being confined to the present tense, the perfect 
tense indefinite, arid the active and passive participles. 
These changes, in what are called Regular Verbs, 
consist in the addition of the letters '' est " or ^^ st " to 
the second person, and " es " or " s " to the third 

L 5 



226 OF VERBS. 

person singular of the present tense ; of " ed, " or 
" d " only, where the present tense ends in " e," to 
form the perfect tense indefinite and the passive par- 
ticiple ; and of " ing " to form the active participle. 
The great majority of our verbs are regular : those 
which form their perfect tense definite, or perfect 
participle, in a manner different from that just men- 
tioned, are called Irregular Verbs, of which a list will 
be given directly. The regular verb, to love, will 
serve as a model for conjugation. 

Indicative Mood. 

Present Tense. 

Singular. Plural. 



1 

2 
3 


I love we love 
thou lovest you love 
he loves (or loveth) they love 




Perfect Tense Indefinite. 


1 
2 
3 


I loved we loved 
thou lovedst you loved 
he loved they loved 




Perfect Tense Definite. 


1 

2 
3 


I have loved we have loved 
thou hast loved you have loved 
he has loved they have loved 




Pluperfect Tense. 


1 
2 
3 


I had loved we had loved 
thou hadst loved you had loved 
he had loved they had loved 




Future Tense. 


1 

2 
3 


I shall love we shall love 
thou wilt love you will love 
he will love they will love 




Future Perfect Tense. 


1 
2 
3 


I shall have loved we shall have loved 
thou wilt have loved you will have loved 
he will have loved they wiU have loved 




Imperative Mood. 


1 
2 
3 


("Wanting) love we, or let us love 

Love (thou) love (you) 

love he, or let him love love they, or let them love 



OF VERBS. 227 

Potential Mood. 

Present Tense. 
Singular, Plural. 

1 I may (can, must, ought to) love we may (can, &c.) love 

2 thou; mayest (canst, must, ought- you may (can, &c.) love 

est to) love 

3 he may (can, must, ought to) they may (can, &c.) love 

love 

Conditional (Imperfect) Tense. 

1 I might (could, would, should) we might, &c., love 

love 

2 thou mightest (couldst, wouldst, you might, &c., love 

shouldst) love 

3 he might (could, would, should) they might, &c., love 

love 

Perfect Tense Definite. 

1 I may (can, must, ought to) we may, &c., have loved 

have loved 

2 thou mayest (canst, must, you may, &c., have loved 

ought to) have loved 

3 he may (can, mvist, ought to) they may, &c., have loved 

have loved 

Pluperfect (Conditional) Tense. 

1 I might (could, &c.) have we might, &c., have loved 

loved 

2 thou mightest (couldst, &c.) you might, &c., have loved 

have loved 

3 he might (could, &c.) have they might, &c., have loved 

loved. 

Future Tense. 

1 I will love we will love 

2 thou shalt love you shall have 

3 he shall love they shall love 

Subjunctive Mood. 
This mood, which is commonly connected by con- 
junctions with the verb to which it is subjunctive, is 
sometimes expressed by inversion of the order. 

Present Tense. 

1 If I love if we love 

2 if thou love if you love 

3 if he love if they love 

Imperfect Tense. 

1 Loved I, or did I love loved we, or did we love 

2 loved thou, or did thou love loved you, or did you love 

3 loved he, o?* did he love loved they, or did they love 



228 OF VERBS. 

Perfect Tense Definite. 
Singular. Plural. 

1 If I have loved if we have loved 

2 if thou have loved if you have loved 

3 if he have loved if they have loved 

Pluperfect Tense. 

1 Had I loved had we loved 

2 had thou loved had you loved 

3 had he loved had they loved 

The future tenses of the indicative mood are not com- 
monly used in hypothetical sentences ; when future action 
is to be thus assumed as the ground of some other fact, 
the potential forms are more commonly (though not uni- 
versally) employed. 

In the tenses of the subjunctive mood, as given above* 
the verb is not inflected in the second and third persons of 
the singular number. Opinions are divided as to the 
propriety of omitting or retaining these terminations in the 
verb employed subjunctively, my own opinion inclining to 
their omission. Very little heed, however, appears to be 
paid to this point in practice ; for refer to what author you 
will to test the usage, it is probable that his works will 
offer numerous examples of both forms of expression. The 
absence of these terminations seems to mark more point- 
edly the assumed nature of the fact. 

Let it be borne in mind, that the potential forms of the 
verb can be employed subjunctively, and that a verb may 
thus be at once potential and subjunctive. For instance, we 
might form the following tenses : 

Present Tense. 
(Subjunctive either to an Indicative or a Potential Verb.) 
Singular. Plural. 

1 If I can (may, must, ought if we can, &c., love 

to) love 

2 if thou can, &c., love if you can, &c., love 

3 if he can, &c,, love if they can, &c., love 

Imperfect (or Future) Tense. 

1 Could (might, should, would) could, &c., we love 

I love 

2 could, &c., thou love could, &c., you love 

3 could, &c., he love could, &c., they love 



OF VERBS. 229 

Perfect Tense Definite. 
Singular. Plural. 

1 Though I may (mnst, ought though we may, &c., have 

to) have loved loved 

2 though thou may, &c., have though you may, &c., have 

loved loved 

3 though he may, &e., have though they may, &c., have 

loved loved 

Pluperfect Tense. 

1 CoTild (might, should, would) could we, &c., have loved 

I have loved 

2 could, &c., thou have loved could you, &c., have loved 

3 could, &c., he have loved could they, &c., have loved 

Infijottive Mood. 
Present. Perfect. 

To love to have loved 

Participles. 

Present (Imperfect) loving 

Perfect havmg loved 

Future ah out to love 

Future Perfect having been about to love 

The different forms of asserting action that have 
been classed under the head " Potential Mood," have 
not been so arranged with the object of proving that 
such a mood really exists in our language, but to 
exhibit at one view the auxiliary verbs by whose aid 
the probability, possibility, or necessity, of an action 
is asserted ; and thus, by directing the pupil's atten- 
tion to the manner in which assertion is qualified in 
his own language, place him in a position to appre- 
hend and justly appreciate the modal mechanism of 
others. 

THE PASSIVE VOICE. 

The Passive Voice, which is that form of the verb 
in which the subject is represented as suffering the 
action asserted by the verb, and which in some 
languages, the Latin for example, is expressed by 
certain inflections of the verb, is in English, as in 
most modern languages, formed by adding to the 
substantive verb to he, through all its moods and 



230 OF VERBS. 

tenses, a form of the verb called the Passive Participle. 
The verb, to love, is thus conjugated passively : 

Indicative Mood. 

Present Tense, 

Singular, Plural. 

1 I am loved we are loved 

2 thou art loved you are loved ^ 

3 he (she, it) is loved they are loved. 

Perfect Tense Indefinite. 

1 I was loved we were loved 

2 thou wast loved you were loved 

3 he was loved they were loved 

Perfect Tense Definite. 

1 I have been loved we have been loved 

2 thou hast been loved you have been loved 

3 he has been loved they have been loved 

Pluperfect Tense. 

1 I had been loved we had been loved 

2 thou hadst been loved you had been loved 
3^ he had been loved they had been loved 

Future Tense. 

1 I shall be loved we shall be loved 

2 thou wilt be loved you will be loved 

3 he will be loved they will be loved 

Future Perfect Tense. 

1 I shall have been loved we shall have been loved 

2 thou wilt have been loved you will have been loved 

3 he will have been loved they will have been loved 

Imperative Mood. 

1 (Wanting) be we loved, or let us be 

loved 

2 Be thou loved be you loved 

3 be he loved, or let him be be they loved, or let them 

loved be loved 

Potential Mood. 
Present Tense. 

1 I may (can, must, ought we may, &c., be loved 

to) be loved 

2 thoumayest,&c., beloved you may, &c. , be loved 

3 he may, &c., be loved they may, &c., be loved 



OF VERBS. 231 

Conditional (Imperfect) Tense. 
Singular. Plural. 

1 I might (could, should) be we might, &c., be loved 

loved 

2 thou mightest, couldst, you might, &c., be loved 

wouldst be loved 

3 he might, &c., be loved they might, &c., be loved 

Perfect Tense Definite, 

1 I may (can, must, ought to) we may, &c., have been loved 

have been loved 

2 thou mayest, &c., have you may, &c., have been loved 

been loved 

3 he may, &c., have been they may, &c., have been loved 

loved 

Pluperfect Tense. 

1 I might (could, should) we might, &c., have been 

have been loved loved 

2 thou mightest (coxildst, you might, &c., have been 

wouldst) have been loved 

loved 

3 he might, &c., have been they might, &c., have been 

loved loved 

Future Tense. 

1 I will be loved we will be loved 

2 thou shalt be loved you shall be loved 

3 he shall be loved they shall be loved 

Subjunctive Mood. 
Present Tense. 

1 If I be loved if we be loved 

2 if thou be loved if you be loved 

3 if he be loved if they be loved 

Conditional (Imperfect) Tense. 

1 Were I loved were we loved 

2 were thou loved were you loved 

3 were he loved were he loved 

Perfect Tense Definite. 

1 If I have been loved if we have been loved 

2 if thou have been loved if you have been loved 

3 if he have been loved if they have been loved 

Pluperfect Tense. 

1 Had I been loved had we been loved 

2 had thou been loved had you been loved 

3 had he been loved had they been loved 



232 OF VEUBS. 

Future Tense. 
Singular. Plural. 

1 Should I be loved should we be loved 

2 should thou be loved should you be loved 

3 should he be loved should they be loved 

Potential Mood (employed Subjunctively). 
Present Tense. 

1 If I may (can, must, ought if we may, &c., be loved 

to) be loved 

2 if thou may, &c., be loved if you may, &c., be loved 

3 if he may, &c., be loved if they may, &c., be loved. 

Conditional (Imperfect) Tense. 

1 Could (might) I be loved could (might) we be loved 

2 could (might) thou be loved could (might) you be loved 

3 could (might) he be loved could (might) they be loved 

Perfect Tense Definite. 

1 If I may (can, must, ought if we may, &e., have been 

to) have been loved loved 

2 if thou may, &c., have been if you may, &c., have been 

loved loved 

3 if he may, &c., have been loved if they may, &c., have been 

loved 

Pluperfect Tense. 

1 Might (could, would) I have might, &c., we have been 

been loved loved 

2 might, &c., thou have been might, &c., you have been 

loved loved 

3 might, &c., he have been might, &c., they have been 

loved loved 

Infinitive Mood. 
Present. Perfect. 

To be loved to have been loved 

Participles. 

Present and Perfect (being) loved 

Perfect having been loved 

Future about to be loved 

Future Perfect having been about to be loved. 

The numerous forms in which the passive voice of the verb 
has here been exhibited, have not been paraded with the 
intention that the pupil rigidly adhere to them in con- 
jugating a verb ; nor is an adherence to the names given 
to the tenses of the potential and subjunctive moods 
insisted on. These tenses show such varied relations of 



OF VERBS. 233 

time, that it is impossible to give them a title characteristic 
of their functions in that respect. In all the subjunctive 
tenses the inflections of the second and third persons 
singular have been suppressed ; yet I am aware that 
countless examples of the contrary manner of writing them 
may be cited from writers of unquestionable authority. 
Where both forms are equally current, it would be some- 
what unbecoming to dictate the employment of one to the 
exclusion of the other. The uninflected form certainly 
seems to me to mark the assumed character of the action 
more clearly than the other one ; but the choice is perhaps 
best left to the pupil. By the aid of our modal auxiliaries, 
we can express distinctions in the manner of asserting action 
that can only be effected in other languages by the agency 
of principal verbs. It will scarcely be questioned, that in 
all the forms of the passive voice just given, the fact 
spoken of is that of being loved ; and that, consequently, 
these expressions are all forms of the passive voice of that 
verb. The propriety of the names that I have attached to 
some of the forms may be contested ; but, should such be 
the case, the teacher can readily give them any titles that 
he may think more appropriate. 

The imperative mood of the third person singular is often 
used passively. "Be it known ; " " be it enacted," are 
examples of this. 

PROGRESSING ACTION. 

In the same way that the verb to be serves to form 
the Passive Voice of the verb, it may be made use of to 
conjugate the verb actively, and is indeed so employed 
by us at every instant. This method consists in 
attaching the present (imperfect) participle active to 
the substantive verb through all its moods and tenses, 
when the notion of action is conveyed, but of incom- 
plete or progressing action; and thus we have, as it 
were, an imperfect form for every tense, a striking 
peculiarity of our language. It is needless to exhibit 
this form here : the pupil has but to take the passive 
form of the verb already given, and substitute the 
active for the passive participle throughout, and the 
matter is effected. I am loving ; thou art loving, &c. 



234 OF VERBS. 

In this form of the verb the perfect tense indefinite 
becomes a relative tense, requiring its precise time to be 
pointed out by other words, and is the equivalent of the 
imperfect tense of other languages, when that tense is not 
used to express long continued action. I was loving, &c. 

PROGRESSING OR IMCOMPLETE SUFFERING. 

In two tenses at least we are also enabled to express 
incomplete or continued suffering ; that is, we have a 
form of the verb that expresses clearly the notion 
that the action which the subject suffers is in actual 
progress. These tenses are the Present and the Per- 
fect Indefinite Tenses. 

Ex. : The church is being repaired. The boys were being exa- 
mined when we arrived. We will walk to the pier, while 
the dinner is being prepared. 

The complement of a transitive verb is frequently made the 
subject of a neuter one, expressed in this way by the verb 
to he and the active participle ; and this form of expression, 
however incorrect or illogical it may appear if employed in 
a sentence not commonly rendered in this way, is in others 
so universal that its impropriety is not perceived. In the 
following sentencefe, for instance, to be strictly correct, the 
verb ought to be in the passive voice. 

Ex. : A new church is building in the suburbs. The youth 
was consuming by an insidious disease. By the last advices 
wheat was selling cheaper. My book is now printing. The 
hare is roasting for dinner. 

In such expressions as " the guns are firing ;'' ''the bells 
are ringing ;" we speak perhaps rather of the sounds given 
forth than of the agency which impels the action. 

A verb is sometimes thus employed as a neuter verb, 
in describing the subject's aptness for, or manner of re- 
ceiving, action. 

jEa;. : The roads rww Hght. The land ^fow^' As stiffly . The meat 
cuts hard. 

CONJUGATION OF IRREGULAR VERBS. 

There are about 180 verbs which differ in their 
conjugation from the verb to love, given as a model. 



ee 



OF VERBS. 235 

exhibiting irregularities in the formation of the per- 
fect tense indefinite and the passive participle. In 
some verbs these two forms are alike, in others they 
differ, and in some few verbs they are Hke the pre- 
sent tense. The perfect participle passive serves to 
form the compound tenses ; and therefore, if the pupil 
know this participle and the perfect tense indefinite, 
he is able to conjugate the entire verb. 

Let us take as a model for irregular verbs the 
verb " write," which makes in the perfect indefinite 

wrote" and in the participle " ivritten." 

Pi^esent Tense. 
Singular. Plural. 

1 I write we write 

2 thou writest you write 

3 h.e writes they write 

Perfect Tense Indefinite. 

1 I wrote we wrote 

2 thou wrotest you wrote 

3 he wrote they wrote 

Perfect Tense Definite. 

1 I have written we have written 

2 thou hast written you have vvrritten 

3 he has written they have written 

Pluperfect Tense. 

1 I had written we had written 

2 thou hadst written you had written 

3 he had vnritten they had written 

Future Tense. 

1 I shall write we shall write 

2 thou wilt write you will write 

3 he will write they will write 

Future Perfect Tense. 

1 I shall have written we shall have vmtten 

2 thou wilt have written you will have written 

3 he will have vmtten they will have written 

Imperative Mood. 

1 (Wantiag) let us write 

2 "Write (thou) write (you) 

3 let him write let them write 



236 



OF VERBS. 



Infinitive Mood. 
Present. Perfect. 

To write To have written 

Participles. 
Present (Imperfect) writing 
Perfect having written 

Future about to write 

Future Perfect having been about to write. 

The potential and subjunctive forms are not repeated ; 
the scholar can form them from those of the verb to love, 
if it be deemed desirable to do so. 



LIST OF IRREGULAR VERBS. 

The only portions of an English verb in which an 
irregularity can exist, are, as before observed, the per- 
fect tense indefinite, and the perfect participle passive. 
These forms, and the present tense, being given, the 
pupil can conjugate the entire verbs. It sometimes 
happens that a verb has both a regular and an irrre- 
gular form ; where such is the case, the letter R is 
added to the word in the following list of the irre- 
gular verbs : 



Present, 

abide 

am 

awake 

bear (bring forth) 

bear (carry) 

beat 

begin 

bend 

bereave 

beseech 

bid 

bind 

bite 

bleed 

blow 

break 

breed 

bring 

build 

burst 

buy 



Perfect Indef. 

abode 

was 

awoke, R. 

bare 

bore 

beat 

began 

bent 

bereft, R 

besought 

bid, bade 

bound 

bit 

bled 

blew 

broke 

bred 

brought 

built 

burst 

bought 



Participle. 

abode 

been 

awaked 

bom 

borne 

beaten, beat 

begun 

bent 

bereft, R. 

besought 

bidden 

bound 

bitten, bit 

bled 

blown 

broken 

bred 

brought 

built 

burst 

bought 



Present. 
cast 
catch, 
chide 
choose 

cleave (adhere) 
cleave (split) 
cling 
clothe 
come 
cost 
crow 
creep 
cut 
dare 
deal 
dig 
do 

draw 
drive 
drink 
dwell 
eat 
faU 
feed 
feel 
fight 
find 
flee 
fling 

% 

forget 

forsake 

freeze 

get 

gild 

gird 

give 

go 

grave 

grind 

grow 

have 

hang 

hear 

hew 

hide 

hit 

hold 

hurt 



knit 



OF VERBS. 




Perfect Indef. 


Participle. 


cast 


cast 


caught 


caught 


chid 


chidden, chid 


chose 


chosen 


regular 




clove, cleft 


cloven, cleft 


clung 


clung 


clad, R. 


clad, R. 


came 


come 


cost 


cost 


crew, R. 


crowed 


crept 


crept 


cut 


cut 


durst, R. 


dared 


dealt 


dealt 


dug, R. 


dug, R. 


did 


done 


drew 


dravsTi 


drove 


driven 


drank 


drunk 


dwelt 


dwelt 


eat, ate 


eaten 


feU 


faUen 


fed 


fed 


felt 


felt 


fought 


fought 


found 


found 


fled 


fled 


flung 


flimg 


flew 


flown 


forgot 


forgotten 


forsook 


forsaken 


froze 


frozen 


got 


got, gotten 


gilt, R. 


gilt, R. 


girt, R. 


girt, R. 


gave 


given 


went 


gone 


graved 


graven, R. 


ground 


ground 


grew 


grown 


lad 


had 


hung, R. 


hung, R. 


heard 


heard 


hewed 


hewn, R. 


hid 


hidden, hid 


hit 


hit 


held 


held 


hurt 


hurt 


kept 


kept 


knit, R. 


knit, R. 



237 



238 



^ 


or VERBS. 




Present. 


Perfect Indef. 


Participle. 


know 


knew 


known 


lade 


laded 


laden 


lay 


laid 


laid 


lead 


led 


led 


leave 


left 


left 


lend 


lent 


lent 


let 


let 


let 


lie (lie dovm) 


lay 


lain 


load 


loaded 


laden, R. 


lose 


lost 


lost 


make 


made 


made 


meet 


met 


met 


mow 


mowed 


mown, R. 


pay 


paid 


paid 


put 


put 


put 


read 


read 


read 


rend 


rent 


rent 


rid 


rid 


rid 


ride 


rode 


ridden, rode 


ring 


rang, rung 


rung 


rise 


rose 


risen 


rive 


reft 


riven 


run 


ran 


run 


saw 


sawed 


sawn, R. 


say 


said 


said 


see 


saw 


seen 


seek 


sought 


sought 


seU 


sold 


sold 


send 


sent 


sent 


set 


set 


set 


shake 


shook 


shaken 


shear 


sheared 


shorn, R. 


shed 


shed 


shed 


shine 


shone 


shone 


show 


showed 


shown 


shoe 


shod 


shod 


shoot 


shot 


shot 


shrink 


shrank 


shrunk 


shred 


shred, R. 


shred, R. 


shut 


shut 


shut 


sing 


sang, sung 


sung 


sink 


sank 


sunk 


sit 


sat 


sat 


slay 


slew 


slain 


sleep 


slept 


slept 


slide 


sHd 


slidden 


sling 


slung 


slimg 


slink 


slunk 


slunk 


sHt 


slit 


sHt 


smite 


smote 


smitten 


sow 


sowed 


sovm, R. 



Present. 
speak 
speed 
spend 
spill 
spin 
spit 
split 
spread 
spring 
stand 
steal 
stick 
sting 
stink 
stride 
strike 
string 
strive 
strew 
swear 
swell 
swim 
swing 
take 
teach 
tem: 
teU 
think 
thrive 
throw 
thrust 
tread 
wear 
weave 
weep 
win 
wind 
work 
wring 
write 



OF VERBS. 




Perfect Indef. 


Participle. 


spoke 


spoken 


sped 


sped 


spent 


spent 


spilt R 


spUt, R. 


spun 


spun 


spit, spat 


spit 


spHt 


spHt 


spread 


spread 


sprang, sprung 


sprung 


stood 


stood 


stole 


stolen 


stuck 


stuck 


stung 


stung 


stank 


stunk 


strode, strid, R. 


stridden 


struck 


struck, stricken 


strung 


strung 


strove 


striven 


strewed 


strewn, R. 


swore 


sworn 


swelled 


swoln, R. 


swam, swum 


swum 


swung 


swung 


took 


taken 


taught 


taught 


tore 


torn 


told 


told 


thought 


thought 


throve, R. 


thriven 


threw 


thrown 


thrust 


thrust 


trod 


trodden 


wore 


worn 


wove 


woven 


wept 


wept 


won 


won 


wo\md 


wound 


wrought, R. 


wrought, R. 


wrung 


wrung 


wrote 


written 



239 



The scholar may, in the course of his reading, meet with 
verbs inflected irregularly that are not found in this list, 
and with others conjugated regularly that are there classed 
as irregular. He will, however, have no difficulty in under- 
standing such words ; but he will do well to avoid, on the 
one hand, expressions that are antiquated, if not obsolete, 
and on the other, an attempt to impose the regular form on 
words that have commonly a peculiar inflection. 



240 OF VERBS. 



OF DEFECTIVE VEUBS. 

There are in most languages a few verbs that are 
only used in particular tenses, or in certain persons, 
or which, in a word, are not employed through all the 
changes that a complete verb undergoes in conjuga- 
tion. Such verbs are called Defective, and the num- 
ber of them in English is pretty well limited to the 
auxiliary verbs already explained. 

Participle. 



^resent. 


Perfect Indef. 


can 


could 


may 


might 


must 




ought 








quoth 


shall 


should 


wHl 


would 


methinks 


methought 



IMPERSONAL (UNIPERSON AL) VERBS. 

Impersonal verbs are so called because they are 
only used in the third person singular, having as sub- 
ject the neuter pronoun "it ;" which may, when thus 
employed, be regarded as an indefinite pronoun. It 
rains, it hails, it snows, &c., are impersonal verbs. 

In concluding this section upon verbs, I take the 
liberty of suggesting, that, should the tutor be desirous 
of fixing the various changes of the verb more firmly 
in the pupil's memory, than appears to him likely to 
be efiected by a mere perusal of the present section, 
he will find the following exercise a very efficient 
help in accomplishing his wishes. Let him direct the 
pupil to take such a portion of the verb to love as may 
be thought sufficient for a lesson, and construct com- 
plete sentences, with different verbs, in all the persons 
of both numbers ; and continue this, in successive 
lessons, through all the forms of all the conjugations, 
taking care, in the relative tenses, to complete the 
sense by such a phrase or sentence as will mark the 
time left uncertain by the tense itself. 



OF PARTICIPLES. 241 



Indicative Mood. 

Present Tense. 
Singular, Plural, 

Ex. : I see you we have a squirrel 

thou lookest pale , you scratch the slate 

he spends his money the dogs bark 

Perfect Teyise Indefinite. 

I saw the queen we gave a shilling 

&c. &c. &c. &c. 



SECTION VII. 

OF participi.es. 

From verbs are formed peculiar species of words, 
called Participles, thus named from participating in, 
or combining, the properties of the adjective and the 
verb. The frequent employment and great utility of 
these words have already been adverted to ; and, 
indeed, they have been thought of such importance, 
that many grammarians have ranked them as a distinct 
Part of Speech. 

There are four participles in each voice of the verb, 
namely, 

Active Passive. 

Present loving (being) loved 

Perfect having loved having been loved 

Future about to love about to be loved 
Future Perfect having been about having been about 

to love to be loved 

It will be seen, that all these forms, with the exception 
of the present, are compound terms : in the classic lan- 
guages such complex notions of time combined with action 
or passion are frequently expressed by inflected forms of 
the verb itself. 

Participles, like adjectives, agree in number, gender, and 
case, with the words to which they are joined, and com- 
monly indicate these concords by terminational inflections : 
in English, however, they undergo no change, though these 

M 



242 OP PAETICII'LES. 

agreements should be conceived as existing. It may aid 
the pupil if we treat of these words in their distinct 
characters; as adjectives expressing quality, and as verbs 
expressing, and tacitly asserting, action. 

The present participle active always ends in " ing :" 
loving, having, catching, taking, &c. : the present participle 
passive of regular verbs terminates in " ed," loved. The 
irregular verbs, of which a list has been given, present 
various forms in this participle ; had, caught, taken, &c. 

The present participles, when used to express quality 
rather than action, and when they may be regarded as 
adjectives, precede the substantive which they determine, 
and in this sense many of them take the negative prefix 
*'un." 

Ea:. : K. flowing mane. The raging tempest. His unforgiving 
temper. A spoiled child. A polished surface. Unknown 
countries. 

Used in their verhal character to express action or suffer- 
ing, when they can govern a complement, may be modified 
by circumstances, or, if passive, be followed by words 
naming the agent, and accompanied by other peculiarities 
of the verb, these participles are the equivalents of an 
entire sentence, that may always be substituted for them; 
and the participial clause may either precede or follow the 
word to which it relates. If it be desired to render a clause 
with the active participle negatively, it must be efi'ected by 
*^ not," the prefix "un" not being used with that parti- 
ciple, in the strict sense of the word, except of course in 
those verbs which contain that syllable, as to unfold, and 
here and there a poetical expression, as uncaring. 

Ex, : The tempest, raging with unwonted fury, drove them for 
shelter to the nearest house. Seizing my hand, he professed 
the warmest friendship. Not caring to make a second trial, 
I declined the proposal. Untaught by experience, he again 
became the dupe of their artifices. A supply of provisions, 
charitably sent us by my kind parishioners, diffused new 
cheerfulness amongst us. Being convinced of his guilt, we 
resolved to detain him. I observed them cooking something 
over the fire. We found the vessel stripped of every thing 
portable. 

The present participle active, with a complement pre- 
fixed, is often employed attributively to determine a sub- 



OF PARTICIPLES. 243 

stantive, and it forms in this way a highly graphic term, 
conveying a complex idea with great simplicity. 

Ex. : A sight-loving people. A money -getting trade. A gin- 
drinJcing population. A God-fearing man. 

The present participle of a verb indirectly transitive is 
not thus used to form, with its complement, a compound 
attributive, because the preposition through which it effects 
its government cannot be introduced : a few such terms 
may, indeed, be found with the preposition omitted ; a play- 
going man. 

The passive participle, combined with a substantive that 
names either the agent from which the action proceeds, or 
some incident connected with the action, is also employed 
as an attributive, to determine the sense of a substantive. 

Ex. : Sea-borne coal. A grass-fed ox. Kiln-dried hops. 
Home-brewed beer. Town-made cutlery. 

Both the active and passive participles, used attributively, 
may be restricted or determined by adverbial terms. 

Ex. : With wi?- turned eyes and ow^-stretched liaTids. An out- 
standing debt. An m-coming tenant. And ill-timei. 
observation. An oM^-lying deer. A homeward-hovnid 
vessel. 

The active participle is sometimes erroneously used for 
the passive, as when we read in the streets " child missing." 
It is not the child that is missing its friends, but the latter 
who miss the child. Change the verb, and this is clearly 
so : we do not say " child losing," but " child lost." 

So the passive participle is sometimes used for the active 
one, of which a notable instance is furnished by the parti- 
ciple '^ mistaken." We say, " di mistaken msin," when we 
mean a mistaking one ; that is, a man who mistakes some- 
thing. The first expression signifies a man who is mis- 
taken, that is, misunderstood or wrongly taken by others. 
This locution is, however, so general, that the correct 
expression would be regarded as pedantic. 

The perfect participles in each voice cannot be used 
adjectively as attributes. They always convey the idea of, 
and may be held tacitly or bv implication to express, 
assertion. 

m2 



244 OF PARTICIPLES. 

Ex. : Having hired a boat, we made for the island. The troops, 
having piled their arms, dispersed in search of refreshment. 
This magnificent church, having been thoroughly repaired 
and greatly embellished, was re-opened on Sunday last. Not 
having been advised of the visit, they were taken wholly 
unawares. 

The future participles, used attributively, /oZ/ow the sub- 
stantives that they define. 

Ex, : The session about to commence will be a stormy one. 
Here we found a vessel about to sail for the Brazils. The 
bridge about to be built will greatly facilitate this traffi.c. 

By the help of these participles, in combination with the 
verb to he, we can form nearly a complete conjugation of 
both voices, expressing, in almost every sense, prospective 
or future action or suffering ; a form of expression in 
frequent use. 

Ex. : I am about to write. I was about to write. I have been 
about to write. He is about to be elected. I was about to be 
condemned, &c. 

Another method of expressing proximately future action, 
in both voices and in many tenses, is by employing, as an 
auxiliary verb of time, the participle "going,'' in which 
sense it does not express motion, the primitive meaning of 
the verb to go, but merely indicates futurity, and is the 
exact equivalent of " about." The latter expression is by 
far the more elegant; but "going" is the word more 
commonly used. 

Ex. : They used all their httle eloquence to pamt the cala- 
mities that I was going to endure. The farmer is going to 
break up the pasture where we play cricket. We received 
certain information that Mr. Thomhill was going to be 
married to Miss Wilmot. 

The verb to go is thus employed, in several languages, to 
mark futurity. 

The future perfect participles are rarely used ; but as 
they are sometimes met with, and then express, by the aid 
of the accompanying words, certain ideas of time in con- 
Dection with the notion of action conveyed by the principal 
verb, they are really participial locutions, and can be 
ranged under no other head than that of participles. 



OF VERBAL SUBSTANTIVES. 245 

Commonly, however, the thought might be better rendered 
in another manner. 

Ex. : The colonel, having been about to establish a pack of fox- 
hounds, had sent to England for his hxmters. 

Other participial expressions, formed by combina- 
tions of the substantive verb to he with infinitive 
forms of the adjective verb, may be found in English; 
but such constr actions, which are sometimes neither 
to be admired nor imitated, can only be justly appre- 
ciated by those who have mastered the verb of another 
language, and who can thus judge of their precise 
value, by seeing how these vague expressions are 
rendered by the verb whose modifications of time or 
tense are shown by terminational changes. That 
voice of the verb, in which we express action by the 
verb to he with the present participles, is, I believe, 
peculiar to the English language. 



SECTION- VIII. 

OF VSR3AL. SUBSTANTIVES. 

All our participles can be used substantively, and 
their frequent employment in this way forms one of 
the most striking peculiarities of our language. This 
method of employing the infinitive forms of our verb 
has been illustrated in detail in Section XVII. of the 
preceding chapter; but a brief recapitulation of its 
principal features may not be out of place here. 

The substantive that recals the idea of action, as con- 
ceived independently of an actor, or in other words, which 
names action, is always identical in form with the active 
participle of the verb that asserts such action. 

Ex. : Lying is as wicked as stealing. Riding is a healthy exer- 
cise. Reading is instructive. Swimming sometimes saves 
from drowning. 

By combining the complement of a verb, whether directly 



246 OF VERBAL SUBSTANTIVES. 

or indirectly transitive, with its active participle, or even by 
prefixing to that participle a substantive indicative of some 
circumstance of manner, &c., we form a compound sub- 
stantive naming a subordinate or restricted species of the 
general action, and thus convey a complex idea clearly and 
concisely. 

Ex. : Fortune-telling is a cheat. Card-playing often leads to 
ruin. The Enghsh are great amateurs of horse-racing. Fly- 
fishing requires much practice. Waste not your time in 
novel-reading. The art of oil-painting was invented by a 
Fleming. She is celebrated for match-making . 

In all these examples the terms are substantives, the 
names of the different kinds of action spoken of. But it is 
the use of our participles substantively, while at the same 
time they preserve and exercise their functions as verbs, 
that constitutes the verbal substantive which is so especially 
English. All our participles are thus used, of which ex- 
amples may be found in every page of an English author. 
The ability to distinguish readily between a participle agree- 
ing with some substantive word, and the same participial 
form employed as a substantive, is so essential to the cor- 
rect translation of English into any other language, that I 
cannot help again recurring to it. The distinction is suffi- 
ciently clear, if the intelligent pupil bear in mind that when 
we are speaking of some object from which the action pro- 
ceeds, these forms are participles, but that when we speak 
of the actions themselves, the phrases become substantives. 
When preceded by a preposition these words are invariably 
substantives, for the office of prepositions is to show certain 
relations of the substantive, and they can only be employed 
in connection with a substantive, or its equivalent. I will 
first give an instance or two of the same word as a participle 
and as a verbal substantive, and then cite, chiefly from 
Goldsmith's "Vicar of Wakefield," a book abounding in 
these expressions, a few instances of the different participles 
thus used substantively. 

Ex.: Leaving the inn, I resolved to return home by easy 
journeys. The leaving a neighbourhood, in which we had 
enjoyed so many hours of tranquillity, was not without a 
tear. 

I cannot blame him, thinking as he does. I cannot par- 
don his thinking so meanly of me. 

Being taxed with the crime, he immediately confessed his 



OF VERBAL SUBSTANTIVES. 247 

guilt. His being taxed with the crime has caused great 

^^^a XSn, sir," said I, "> -^--i'f ^ - Hhe 
learning." To prevent the ladies leaving us, I ordered the 
table tS be renioved. Sir, I insist upon your marchmg out 
of this house immediately. Upon hearhig my name the old 
gentleman very poUtely stepped up. Idesire -o other -- 
ward but the pleasure of having served a friend. ±ie stoutly 
Tied his being about to leave. And this, but not the mcrea^^- 
ina punishments, is the way to mend a man. Upon the 
lord's leavi^ the room, I could not av-d e.^-^^^ ^^^ 
concern to the stranger at seeing a gentleman m sucti cu: 
cumstTnces. Her being about to be married was the common 
gossip of the place. 
If the pwil try, he will find that, in these last examples, 
there is no word with which the participles agree. In the 
phrase "to prevent the ladies leaving," the defining sub- 
staXe "ladies" is followed neither by the sign of the 
staniive lauic „_„„osition Were a substantive m 

genitive case, nor by a preposiuon. wc 

?he singular number substituted, one or other or these 
sVgns would be employed; "to prevent my «>«. leaving 
or " to prevent mv son from leaving." In this mstance, as 
with many other substantives, the sign of the S-^e ^^^^ 
is not attached to the definitive. ^.S«« P^S^^f ' .^f^'"" "^^ 
All the infinitives, in the ordinary acceptation ot the 
ter^ Ire luays employed as substantives, for they can 
onV be used in one of three characters : as the ^ject of 
the sentence ■ as the complement of a verb or adjective ; or 
l^ an aS to determine the sense in which a substantive 
is to be understood. 

SECTION rx. 

OP PREPOSITIONS. 

The Preposition, which is a word placed before a 
substantiye to mark some relation of the object named 
by that substantive to another object also named, is 
believed originally to have shown relations of place, 
or of direction and locality only. This class of words 
has now, howeyer, a much wider range ; for, as has 
been seen, they assist in indicating, not merely the 



248 OP PREPOSITIONS. 

place, but also the time, manner, and ground or origin 
of an action, and are also extensively used in eiFecting 
the indirect government of verbs. 

A list of the principal prepositions has been given, 
p. 50. It is a rule of English syntax that all prepo- 
sitions govern an accusative case : in other languages 
this is not so. 

Prepositions commonly precede substantives or pronouns, 
or other words used substantively. Sometimes, however, 
when serving as the medium by which a verb, indirectly 
transitive, effects its government of a relative pronoun, 
instead of preceding the governed word, they follow the 
verb, ellipsis of the relative being very common, not only 
in colloquial language, but even in serious writing. 

Ex. : For in this narrow scantling of capacity, which we are 
accustomed to, and sensible q/" here. — Locke. The man 
(whom) you spoke to. The horse (which) you went after. 

When a preposition immediately precedes the pronouns 
this, that, which, the expression may be changed as follows : 
substitute " here " for this, " there " for that, and " where " 
for which, suffixing the preposition to the substituted term. 

Ex. : In this he was disappointed = herein he was disappointed. 
Upon that the count marched to Fumes = thereupon the 
coimt marched to Fumes. In which were deposited several 
coins == ivherein were deposited several coins. 

These terms, though somewhat formal and antiquated, 
are still sufficiently usual in serious discourse. Such com- 
plex terms are classed by our grammarians as adverbs, but 
as they always relate to something previously mentioned, 
they seem to me to be rather pronouns than adverbs. 

Some few words that are not properly prepositions are 
found employed as such, and must be ranked with them. 
Such are, besides, despite, during, near, next, notwithstanding , 
opposite, since. 



OF ADVERBS. 249 

SECTION X. 
OF ADVBRBS. 

Adverbs serve to express the Time, Place, and 
Manner of an action ; or they indicate a greater or 
less degree of a quality. As already mentioned, our 
grammarians class among adverbs many words which 
I have ranked with interrogative and relative pro- 
nouns, or with conjunctions, conceiving that they do 
not answer to the definition of an adverb, which 
Murray gives as follows : — " An adverb is a part of 
speech joined to a verb, an adjective, and sometimes 
to another adverb, to express some quality or circum- 
stance respecting it." Under this definition it seems 
to me that the adverb ought to express this circum- 
stance by itself, and not by recalling the idea con- 
veyed by other words, which is the especial office of 
a pronoun, or by attaching an explanatory sentence, 
for which we use a conjunction. 

Adverbs may be divided into the following classes : — 

1 . Adverbs of Time ; with which must be ranked Adverbs 
of Frequency, including those which mark regularly recur- 
ring action. Such are — 

Again, akeady, always, before, behind, betimes, constantly, 
continually, directly, early, ever, forever, frequently, in- 
stantly, just, late, lately, momentarily, never, newly, now, 
often, once, presently, rarely, Recently, repeatedly, seldom, 
soon, then, when, hourly, daily, nightly, weekly, monthly, 
quarterly, half-yearly, yearly, annually, once, twice, thrice, 
&c. 
Hourly, daily, nightly, &c., are also employed as adjec- 
tives. 

2. Adverbs of Place, which indicate locality or direction. 
The following words belong to this class : 

Above, abroad, after, away, abed, ahead, aloft, ashore, 
astern, anywhere, back, backwards, before, behind, below, 
everywhere, forth, forwards, in, nowhere, onwards, out, 
outwards, inside, outside, within, without, homewards, 
yonder, &c. 

3. Adverbs of Manner. This is a very numerous class, 

M 5 



2,50 OP ADVERBS. 

for besides some few special words, as well, ill, fast, thus, so, 
&c., an adverb of manner may be formed from almost 
every adjective, and from many participles, by the addition 
of the syllable '' ly." 

Ably, abominably, abjectly, abortively, absolutely, absurdly, 
abstemiously, abstractedly, abstrusely, abundantly, abu- 
sively, actively, additionally, affectionately, agreeably, &c. 

4. Adverbs of Degree, used to mark the greater or less 
intensity of a quality ; as, 

About, almost, as, extremely, far, just, less, little, much, more, 
nearly, partly, quite, rather, scarcely, somewhat, so, 
thoroughly, too, truly, very, utterly, wholly, &c. 

^he pronouns "how," "what," are sometimes used to 
express intensity in a quality. 

Ex. : How good you are. WJiat a delightful prospect. 

5. Modal Adverbs, employed to modify or strengthen 
the force of assertion. 

Perhaps, peradventure, surely, verily, really, probably, pos- 
sibly, perchance. 

To which may be added the responsive adverbs yeSj no. 

The greater number of the prepositions are used adver- 
bially, sometimes serving, like a verb with a prefixed pre- 
position, to express a modified species of the action asserted 
by the verb, at other times the combined phrase indicating 
■a totally different action. 

Ex. : To sit down, to, rise up, to turn round, to fall in, to look 
upon, to call over, to find out, Sec. 

Adverbs are compared like adjectives; some few, 
by inflection, as soon, sooner, soonest ; often, oftener, 
qftenest ; but the rest by the adverbs of degree more, 
most, less, least ; ?nore rigidly, most cruelly, less cor- 
rectly, least absurdly. 

The adverb of degree "rather" is in the comparative 
degree, and has neither positive nor superlative : it is the 
perfect equivalent of " more willingly." The contracted 
"manner of speaking and writing, " I'd rather, " I'd sooner," 
and similar expressions, has led to certain incorrect locu- 
tions. As such an expression declares an inclination of the 



OF CONJUNCTIONS. 251 

will, the auxiliary that has been contracted is would, and not 
had, which we sometimes find wrongly substituted for it ; 
as^ "I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of God, 
than dwell in the tents of wickedness." If the corres- 
ponding phrase ''more willingly" were employed, we 
should perceive clearly that would is the proper auxiliary, 
had marking time, and not mood. 

So, thus, there, thither, yonder, here, hither, which are fre- 
quently accompanied by signs or gestures indicative of the 
manner or the place, have been called Demonstrative 
Adverbs. 



SECTION XI. 

OP CONJUNCTIONS. 

Conjunctions are words which serve to couple 
clauses of a sentence in certain relations to a common 
member of the sentence ; or to connect a complete 
sentence with another sentence. 

There are two classes of conjunctions, Co-ordinate Con- 
junctions and Subordinate Conjunctions. 

Co-ordinate conjunctions, which connect either the similar 
clauses of a sentence, or similar sentences, whether such 
sentences be both or all principal sentences, or both or all 
accessory sentences (for accessory sentences may be co- 
ordinately connected with each other), couple such clauses 
or sentences either in a concurrent, or in an adverse sense. 
To mark this distinction they have been named by some 
gi*ammarians Copulative, and Disjunctive, Conjunctions ; a 
division which appears to me useless, to say nothing of the 
name *' Disjunctive Conjunction," which is itself a con- 
tradiction. The only case in which this difference in the 
character of the conjunction exercises any influence upon 
the rest of the sentence, is when two or more subjects, in 
the singular number, are connected ; when, if such a con- 
junction is used as that the verb predicates affirmatively of 
them jointly, the latter must be in the plural number; 
but if we use such conjunctions that the verb predicates 
affirmatively of one and negatively of the other, or of each 



252 OF INTERJECTIONS. 

taken singly and exclusively, then the verb will be in the 
singular number. This class of words has been fully con- 
sidered in Chapter IV., Section II. 

Subordinate conjunctions always connect an accessory 
sentence as a clause {Subject, Complement, Addition, or 
Circumstance) of another sentence. If, that, whether, as, 
lest, though, are among the subordinate conjunctions, to 
which I add such words as when, after, before, &c., when 
they serve to connect an accessory circumstantial sentence 
with another sentence. These words, as before explained, 
are commonly called adverbs, but they do not express any 
circumstance, which is said to be the office of the Adverb ; 
they connect the words that do express the circumstance, 
and in this they are Conjunctions : the whole sentence is 
an adverbial sentence, and the connective, if you will, an 
adverbial conjunction. 

Relative pronouns, called by some conjunctive pronouns, 
all connect accessory sentences : in other instances the 
union is effected without a conjunction, by employing the 
participle of the less important verb. 

I will here give examples of the same word as a Prepo- 
sition, an Adverb, and a Conjunction ; and as a Conjunction 
and Adverb. 

Ex. : He is standing before the fire. I have told you that before. 
You will have finished before I return. When I return I 
will explain all. I shall return, but I cannot tell you when. 



SECTION XII. 

OF INTERJECTIONS. 

We sometimes give utterance to emotions of joy, 
pain, anger, surprise, disgust, &c., by such exclama- 
tions as ah ! alas ! oh ! fie ! zounds ! &c. These 
words, which do not express any definite idea, have 
no grammatical relation whatever to the other words 
of a sentence. They can scarcely be regarded as 
words at all, not being the expression of any regular 
operation of the mind ; but grammarians have classed 
them as a distinct part of speech, and have given 
them the appropriate name of Interjections. 



DEKI NATION. 253 

SECTION xm. 

DERIVATION. 

The words of a language are either simple or com- 
pound; Primitives, or Derivatives. The first, 
which are also called Eoots, as being those from 
which others spring, express simple ideas ; and from 
them are formed words of the second class, which 
convey the complex notion of the original idea, in 
combination with certain accessory ones, that are 
expressed by various additions engrafted upon the 
primitive word. 

Derivation treats of the origin and signification 
of words, and it also shows the manner in which root 
words branch out into their various ramifications. 

The attempt to teach, by rule, the value of the syllabic 
prefixes and affixes of our language, has always appeared 
to me a cumbrous and inefficient process ; the rules given 
being, for the most part, liable to many exceptions, and 
therefore apt to mislead, or else so evident as to render a 
parade of them needless. That branch of Derivation which 
consists in tracing a root through all the words of the 
language into whose composition it enters is, as far as my 
own experience goes, but an ingenious whiletime. When 
a pupil has been set to write out all the words derived from 
a given primitive, I have commonly found, as might indeed 
be expected, that many such have been omitted from the 
list ; while, if the pupil were diligent, it has generally hap- 
pened that he has formed, analogically enough, various 
termis that do not exist in the language. It is not a string 
of words, conveying no ideas at all, or at best but vague 
ones, that the master requires from a pupil, but ideas, 
suitable to his age, correctly expressed in words of his own 
choosing. I am aware that many successful teachers enter- 
tain a different opinion as to the utility of this exercise : I 
can only say, in excuse of mine, that it is the result of 
anxious and oft-repeated, but generally profitless, experi- 
ments . 



254 DERIVATION. 

The branch of Derivation which teaches us to trace a 
compound word to its primitive in another language, is not 
a legitimate branch of English grammar. The English, 
having been formed by a combination of the languages of 
several nations, has drawn its words from various sources ; 
the far greater proportion of them being, however, either 
Saxon or Latin, The first class, derived from the language 
of a rude people, has in a great measure furnished the 
familiar and homely terms of every-day life ; the latter, 
imposed by our conquerors and civilizers, convey more 
peculiarly the perceptions of our intellectual faculties. To 
set a child about tracing the words that he uses to lan- 
guages of which he has no knowledge is a species of 
Egyptian bondage, it is requiring bricks from those who 
lack straw. There is no branch of knowledge in which " a 
little learning " is more dangerous than is a superficial 
acquaintance with languages ; for there is none in which it 
is so likely to prompt a shallow man to an exposure of his 
ignorance. Without trenching upon his other studies, a 
youth might be taught solidly one or two languages besides 
his own ; and this desirable result rendered at the same 
time highly subservient to the accurate knowledge of the 
latter, by judicious references to the roots, as they occur, 
which have furnished us with words, and occasional demands 
of a list containing a// the derivatives from the primitive thus 
pointed out. To a pupil thus instructed derivation will be 
an amusement ; but what has been the object proposed in 
printing, in English grammars, lists of Saxon and Latin and 
Greek roots, and the latter in Greek characters too, which 
the pupil cannot read, is to me a mystery. 

Eoot words are substantives, adjectives, or verbs ; 
these being the classes of words that convey simple 
ideas. The most concise form in which an expression 
is found in a language may, I conceive, be taken as 
the root. When the same word is of two characters, 
a substantive and a verb, for instance, as a plough, and 
to plough, or, love, and to love, it would be difficult to 
decide which is the primitive ; but this is a matter of 
little consequence. Probably, where the noun names 
a material object, that may be the original word, and 
that where the verb expresses an action, the name of 



DEHIVATIUN. 2.55 

which is an abstract substantive, the verb may have 
been the primitive. 

I will now cite a few examples of root words from 
the German (Saxon) and the Latin, many of the latter 
having been derived mediately through the French. 
Let me again exhort the pupil to draw his knowledge 
from the fountain-head, by studying the languages 
from which the English has sprung. 

The following substantives are from the Saxon : 

Man, house, ship, fire, father, mother, son, daughter, plough, 
cow, calf, earth, water, brother, sister, coal, book, day, night, 
God, king, sea, fish, flesh. 

The foUowing are from the Latin : 

Science, reason, virtue, vice, crime, sense, honour, religion, 
cross, grace, passion, ocean, camp, arms, odour, coloxir, lion, 
tiger. 

Root adjectives from the German (Saxon) : 

Warm, cold, true, light, green, red, white, old, soft, hard, foul, 
blind, lame, deaf, nuld. 

Almost all our adjectives terminating in "nt" are formed 
from the active participles of Latin verbs, and convey, in 
their original meaning, an idea of action. The following 
adjectives are from the Latin : 

Pure, just, honest, equal, poor, divine, sublime, liquid, mere, 
strenuous, timid, limpid, crude, venal, noble, humid, vernal, 
capital. 

Root verbs from the Saxon. 

See, hear, feel, tliink, love, have, work, hold, sing, hang, 
drink, do, wash, swim, cook, make, sink, learn, name, 
speak, dream, sleep. 

We have but few Root Verbs from the Latin, most of 
our verbs from this source being compound terms. Such 
are those ending in " ceive," conceive, deceive, &c.; in "fer," 
infer, prefer, &c. ; in "pose," repose, propose, &c.; 
in "scribe," subscribe, describe, &c.; in "mit," commit, 
permit, &c.; in "pel," propel, expel, &c.; with numerous 
others. The following are simple verbs from the Latin : 

Press, urge, cede, tinge, judge, note, perish, tend, fracture, 
dictate, serve, create, argue, use, join. 



256 DERIVATION. 

I will now give an example of derivation in the 
school acceptation of the word ; the scholar, if so dis- 
posed, may take any of the above roots, and try in a 
similar manner how many words he can form from 
them. Let us see how many words can be cited as 
derived from the word "form," arranging them in 
the following order : substantives, adjectives, verbs, 
and adverbs. 

Form, formation, reform, platform, conformation, conformity, 
information, reformation, malformation, deformity, for- 
mality, informality, conformist, nonconformist, conformer, 
nonconformer, performer, reformer, informer, performance, 
formless, conformable, unformed, reformed, unreformed, 
iininformed, unperformed, multiform, uniform, ensiform, 
cruciform, formal, informal, formative, to form, conform, 
deform, inform, perform, reform, conformably, uniformly, 
formally, informally. 

Other words derived from this root may probably sug- 
gest themselves to the mind of the pnpil. 



257 



CHAPTER VI. 



SVNTAX. 

Syntax is that portion of grammar which treats of 
the Concord and Government of words,, and their 
proper arrangement in the sentence. The principles 
and practice of Syntax, as it exists in our language, 
have been largely illustrated in the preceding chap- 
ters; and, if the pupil have diligently worked the 
exercises there given, he must be familiar with those 
principles. It will, however, be useful to embody, in 
concise rules, those general principles which con- 
stitute the SCIENCE of grammar; which are common to 
all languages ; which the student will find pervading 
every language to which he may direct his studies ; 
and an acquaintance with which will serve as the 
surest guide to conduct those studies to a satisfactory 
and profitable conclusion. 

HULE I. 

The verb agrees with its nominative case, the sub- 
ject of the sentence, in number and person, as, " I 
write," '' thou readest'' '^ he is diligent," " the win- 
dows are open." 

This rule suggests the following observations : — 

The Subject commonly precedes the verb ; but where 
the assertion is effected by the verb to he, the Attribute is 
sometimes found preceding, and the Subject following, the 
verb ; as in this sentence from Burke. " The cause of a 
wrong taste is a defect of judgment." It is in inverted 
constructions, where substantives other than the subject are 
found preceding the verb, that we commonly meet with 
violations of this cardinal maxim of grammar : ** In piety 
and virtue consist the happiness of man." Here the sub- 



258 SYNTAX. 

ject " happiness " is of the singular number, and the verb 
should be '^ consists." 

Every nominative case, except when the object is ad- 
dressed, and except the case absolute, must have a verb 
predicating of it. The following sentence, also from 
Burke, is therefore faulty. " They who have not taken 
these methods, if their taste decides quickly, it is always 
uncertainly." 

So every predicating verb must have a nominative case. 
Locate, in the following sentence, sins in this respect. 
Speaking of the earlier years of life, he says, *' Men's busi- 
ness in them is to acquaint themselves with what is to be 
found without, and so growing up in a constant attention 
to outward sensations, seldom make any considerable reflec- 
tion on what passes within them till they come to be of 
riper years." 

When the subject and attribute are expressed by sub- 
stantives of different numbers, the verb may agree with 
either : " The wages of sin is death." 



RULE II. 

When two or more subjects in the singular number 
are coupled by conjunctions, the number of the verb 
that predicates of them, and of any pronominal words 
that represent them, will depend on the conjunctions 
employed. 

I. If we connect the subjects by what are called Copu- 
lative Conjunctions, that is, in such a way that the verb 
predicates of them all jointly in the same sense, they of 
course form a plural, and the verb, and any pronominal 
term serving to recal them to mind, will be in the plural 
also. " Saul and Jonathan were lovely and pleasant in 
their lives, and in their death they were not divided." 

A form of expression very frequently in use, yet directly 
at variance with grammatical principles, is the employment 
of the preposition, "with," instead of the conjunction, 
" and," to couple additional substantives to a subject in 
the singular number, and then putting the following verb 
in the plural number : as, *' He, with his wife and children, 
were seized and conveyed to a stronghold." All English 



SYNTAX. 259 

prepositions govern an accusative case, and therefore 
" wife and children," being governed in that case by 
" with," clearly cannot be subjects in the nominative case 
also; consequently the verb, predicating of ''he" only, 
should be in the singular number, "was." Numberless 
instances of this fault might be cited from authors of 
repute ; but no authority can sanction error, and therefore 
the pupil will avoid it. By slightly changing the con- 
struction, the sentence is rendered perfectly accurate. If 
it be wished to intimate that all were made captive, sub- 
stitute the conjunction and: "He, and his wife and children, 
were seized," &c.; but, if the desire be to show rather the 
manner of the arrest, let the accusative phrase follow the 
verb in the singular number, and then the ear will not be 
offended by a seeming want of concord : '" He was seized, 
with his wife and family, and conveyed," &c. 

If the conjoined subjects are of different persons, the 
pronoun will be of the first person rather than of the 
others, and of the second rather than of the third. " Your 
brother and I have finished our lessons." " You and your 
dog must share the blame between you." 

In the writers of the last and the preceding century, it 
is not at all unusual to find substantives thus coupled, fol- 
lowed by a verb in the singular number, especially in 
religious discourses. " True wisdom and greatness of 
mind raises a man above the need of using little tricks 
and devices." Such expressions are also frequent in the 
translation of the scriptures ; but they are no longer 
common. 

II. But if two or more subjects in the singular number 
are so connected, that the verb predicates of them in a 
different sense, as affirmatively and negatively, or of one 
to the exclusion of the others, or of each subject distinctly 
and independently of the others, the verb will be in the 
singular number. The conjunctions which thus connect 
subjects in individual relation to a common^ verb are called 
disjunctive conjunctions. " Neither kindness nor severity 
makes any impression upon him. 

When singular subjects of different persons are thus con- 
nected, the verb is commonly made to agree with the last : 
as, *' Not only I, but my brother also is invited." 



260 



SYNTAX. 



RULE III. 



A substantive that names a body consisting of many 
individuals^ or, what is commonly termed a Noun of 
Multitude, will govern a verb, or be followed by a 
pronoun, in either the singular or plural number, ac- 
cording as it is conceived to constitute a whole or 
unity, or is regarded as an aggregate of individual 
objects. " The clergy are, to a man, opposed to the 
scheme, and are using all their efforts to defeat it," 
'^ The army has sent in its adhesion." " The pea- 
santry are industrious and frugal." " The committee 
has been dissolved." 

In the ninth chapter of the Book of Judges the pupil 
will find repeated instances of the noun " people," followed 
indifferently by singular and plural verbs and pronouns. 

RULE IV. 

Every adjective and every participle used adjec- 
tively, belongs to a substantive expressed or under- 
stood, with which it agrees in Number, Gender, and 
Case. 

In other languages, adjectives and participles have varying 
terminations that show these concords, but the only defini- 
tives in English that mark their sympathy with the sub- 
stantive by a change of form, are this, that, which, when 
joined to a plural noun, or when representing one, change 
to these, those : " this rule ;" " these rules :" " that man ;" 
** those men." 

A definitive is not commonly used in English to repre- 
sent a substantive that has not been previously used, except 
in the plural number to indicate classes of persons : 
*' Blessed are the merciful; for Mey shall obtain mercy." 
Instances may be found, however, of such terms employed 
in speaking of an individual : " The deceased has left no 
relations ;" " the accused is a foreigner ;" and with abstract 
ideas the construction is not unusual. *' The pleasant is 
not always the profitable." When a substantive has been 
already mentioned, ellipsis of it after a following adjective 



SYNTAX. 261 

is common enough : " The horses are both handsome, but 
the hay pleases me most." 

Adjectives thus employed are very frequently converted 
into substantives, and receive the sign of plurality; but 
then they cannot be followed by a substantive, as they can 
while they preserve the form of the singular. Thus we 
might say, " Tell me, my dear girl, what you think of our 
new visitor V but change the number of the definitive and 
say, "Tell me, my dears," and then the substantive " girls " 
cannot follow it." Numerous examples of adjectives thus 
converted into substantives might be cited : "In this 
island the blacks are more numerous than the whites ; and 
thQ females exceed the males as eleven to ten." 

RULE V. 

The relative is of the same Number, Gender, and 
Person as its antecedent. " 1, who am now a beggar, 
was then in affluence. " " That is the woman who 
has lost her son." " We, who are such sticklers for 
our o\\Ti rights, should show some respect for those of 
other people." 

These concords of the relative, with its antecedent, have 
been fully explained in Section VII., Chapter IV. When 
several antecedents in the singular number are connected 
independently, the relative is in the singular number. " It 
is not gold, or honour, or power, that moves men to act, 
but the opinions they entertain of those things." — Berkeley. 

RULE VI. 

The case of the relative is in no way influenced 
by that of its antecedent, but depends entirely upon 
its own character, whether Subject, Complement, &c. 

This is clearly seen in the following sentence from 
" Rasselas," where the antecedent him, in the accusative 
case, is represented by the relative in the three cases. 
'• What can equal the satisfaction of him, whose abilities 
are adequate to his employment, who sees with his own 
eyes the whole circuit of his influence, and whom none are 
tempted to deceive by hope or fear.''" 



262 SYNTAX. 



RULE VIT. 

When a substantive is used to define or determine 
the signification of another substantive, the defining 
word will be put in the genitive case : " The queerCs 
palace." 

This rule, which holds good almost universally in other 
languages, is very commonly disregarded in ours, even in 
cases where the notion of property is sufficiently clear ; as 
in the expressions, " the parish church," or, " the church 
bells." Indeed, from our habit of employing substantives 
to determine other substantives by some extraneous idea 
of purpose, origin, manner, &c., this rule ought to be 
expunged from English syntax, or greatly restricted in 
its range. 

RULE VIII. 

The verb to he takes the same case after it as before 
it, or, in other words, is followed by a nominative 
case : " I am he.'' " Who are they?'' 

This rule, which can only be visibly exemplified in English 
with the personal pronouns, takes in other languages a 
wider range, extending to all verbs that predicate a condi- 
tion of the subject. 

With this verb we frequently find substantives of all the 
genders and both numbers represented by the neuter pro- 
noun of the singular " it/' with the verb also in the singular 
number. " It was my sister that told me so." "It is we 
whom he suspects." It is not unusual to hear ilHterate 
people violate this rule by saying " It is me," " It was 
us," &c. 

RULE IX. 

Transitive verbs govern an accusative case ; some 
directly, as " I see him;" others indir-ectly, through 
the medium of a preposition, as "I think of him." 

It is needless to do more than advert to the manner in 
which, by the addition of a preposition or an adverb to a 
primitive verb^ a new verb is formed, frequently a transitive 



SYNTAX. 26S 

one, with a passive voice. Thus, from the verb " to take " 
we form take out, take up, take in, take after, take on, take 
to, &c., which I consider to be as much verbs as those 
combinations of the root with a syllable, undertidke, over- 
take, retake, j^artake, mjstake, &c. Indeed in the German, 
from which these compound verbs are derived, the modify- 
ing particles which follow the verb in the Present and 
Imperfect Tenses, are, in the Infinitive and Participle, pre- 
fixed to the root verb. 

RULE X. 

Participles exercise the same goyernment as the 
verbs from which they are formed. 

This rule holds, whether such terms be really participles 
according in number, gender, and case with a substantive 
or pronoun, or whether they be used substantively as verbal 
nouns. The following sentences contain participles govern- 
ing an accusative : " The young men came in and found 
her dead, and carrying her forth, buried her with her hus- 
band." " Having reloaded my piece, I awaited anxiously his 
approach." In the sentences about to follow the participles 
are employed substantively, yet preserve their verbal govern- 
ment : " I could never perceive by what gradations they 
proceeded in acquainting themselve^ with truth." " Your 
fellow- citizens in the camp will as eagerly seize the occasion 
of throwing off the yoke J" 

RULE XI. 

In English all the prepositions govern an accusative 
case : *^ The letter is for meP " Give the book to her.^^ 

The relation of property expressed by the genitive case 
can also commonly be expressed by the preposition ''of," 
which mode of showing the relation has been called by 
some the Norman genitive. The latter form does not, 
however, convey the notion of property as clearly as our 
genitive : "The love of God," for instance, is an equivocal 
expression, which may mean the love of God to man, or 
the love of man towards his Maker ; but with the genitive 
" God's love " the words could only mean the divine 
favour. Sometimes " of " has no relation to property, but 



264 SYNTAX. 

t 

signifies about, concerning, &c. "The story of the murder 
is all false." 



RULE XII. 

In English two negatives counteract each other and 
render the sense affirmative. ^^ His story, though im- 
probable, is not untiuQ ;" that is " is true." 

This rule is so evident that it is only violated by the 
wholly illiterate. In Latin the employment of double 
negatives to form an affirmative was carried further than 
with us, such expressions as "not never" for "some- 
times," " not none " for " some," &c., being frequent; but 
in Greek the negation is doubled and even tripled to add to 
its negative force. 

RULE XIII. 

In complex sentences especial care must be taken 
to mark, as far as possible, by appropriate tenses, the 
relative order of the facts. The following expression 
is faulty in this respect : " Whatever his former con- 
duct may be, his circumstances should exempt him 
from censure now." , 

It would be useless to multiply examples of faulty con- 
structions of this kind. The master who makes use of the 
present work will, I conceive, in the course of the exercises, 
have abundant opportunities of directing the pupil's atten- 
tion to this essential requisite in composition. 



Palmer & Clayton, Printers, Crane-court. 



